An Unsound Body
by CSpacian
Summary: Several years after the main cast have been in the DWMA a new class has emerged. How shall these people deal with the weird and wacky antics that take place at the academy? OC's accepted.
1. OC Submit Form

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or any of the canon characters. I do however own all rights to this story.

Welcome to my Soul Eater OC story. For those of you fortunate to wander here please enjoy your time spent reading this story. To begin with when submitting an OC there are 1000 provisions you must provide (And by 1000 I mean thirteen and by provisions I mean rules and by provide I mean obey).

1. No Sues. 'Nuff said.

2. Your character cannot be related to any other canon character (this includes, but is not limited to: long lost sister, cousin, lover, nephew, great grand kid, etc.)

3. If you are a weapon you can only have one mode. So choose wisely.

4. No mixing titles. You may not be a Kishin and a weapon, a weapon and a meister, a witch and a meister, or anything like that. So don't even think about it.

5. YOU cannot submit a premade pair. If someone else submits a weapon/meister and you think 'my character would go great with him/her' you may SUGGEST it!

6. You may submit more than one character, but only one main protagonist. I will accept all villains and minor characters you want.

7. Weapons cannot work alone. Meisters cannot work alone. They are supposed to be pairs.

8. Be real. I do not want a 200 year old human running around in my story, nor do I want a three-year-old wielding dual death scythes.

9. Gender comes in three flavors: Male, Female, and Androgynous. Take your pick.

10. If you do not want to include something you don't have to.

11. All main meisters and main weapons are occupied. Minor characters and minor/major villains will still be accepted. Same for Staff members or any rivals.

12. Creativity (or insanity) is a big plus in my book. The more creative (and less cliché) a character is the higher chance they will be picked.

13. This story is scheduled to include some romance somehow (hence the Sexual Orientation section). You may suggest a character that is already in the story for your character to fall in love with, you can leave it up to me and maybe some reviewers, OR your character can remain single/have meaningless relationships.

14. Have fun. This is not negotiable.

**Student Meister/Weapons:**

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Sexual Orientation:

Weapon or Meister (please include your weapon's form):

If Weapon please include Soul Resonance abilities:

If Meister please include fighting style (do they rely on their weapon, do they know kung fu, do they sit back and do nothing?):

Partner Preferences (what weapon, what kind of personality, etc):

Physical Appearance:

Trademark Clothing:

Sleepwear:

Formal:

Beach:

Personality (be descriptive, please):

History (again descriptive is nice):

Family:

Soul Appearance (what does their soul look like?):

Why should I pick your character?:

**Witches:**

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Sexual Orientation:

Ally/Enemy (basically good witch or bad witch):

Physical Appearance:

Trademark Clothing:

Animal:

Abilities (what magical powers does your witch possess? Can they create arrows to control movements? Can they immobilize opponents with thread?):

Personality:

History:

Soul Appearance:

**Kishin:**

Name (extra bonus points if you use serial killers name):

Age:

Gender:

Powers (what do they use to fight, energy blasts, sharp claws, a giant weapon?)

Physical Appearance:

Clothing:

Personality:

History:

Soul Appearance:

**Staff Member:**

Name:

Age: (Please be reasonable)

Gender:

Sexual Orientation:

Position (teachers, nurse, Death Scythes):

Weapon or Meister (For Weapons please include their form):

Partner Preferences:

Physical Appearance:

Trademark Clothing:

Formal:

Personality:

History:

Soul Appearance:

Finally a word from our sponsor!

Excalibur! Excalibur! I'm from the United Kingdoms! I'm searching for Heaven! I'm going to Californiaaaaaaaaaaaa! Excalibur! Excalibur!

EDIT: I added the Staff Member section. I'm going to need some of these, if not I WILL FILL THEM MYSELF!

EDIT: I edited the main rules # 11 and 13, I added Soul Resonance to the Meister and Weapon sections, and I also added Special Abilities and Ally/Enemy to the Witches' section.

EDIT: I added a power section to the Kishins and a fighting style to the Meister.


	2. Chapter 1 The Namesake and the Demon Bow

**The Namesake and The Demon Bow**

A young male carrying a grey bow leapt down from the rooftop he was staying on. He was wearing a green military jacket and camouflage pants. He stayed as low as he could as he ran throughout the streets of the city. The sky was pitch-black and it was no later then 1 o'clock in the morning. He was investigating a recent attack in the city of Loew. His instructions were to keep a low profile as the citizens of Loew hated Magic Weapons and Meisters for some reason.

This was his first official assignment from Lord Death himself since he was paired up with his partner. They were accompanied with a professional, their teacher Canary. The young man hid quickly into a pair of bushes as a person walked by. A single sighting could result in his mission being a total failure. A Kishin Egg was supposedly wreaking havoc here and the chances that they'd successful get out of here without any casualties went up with everyone person they avoided.

A scream rang out and pierced the dark skies.

"Michael," said the man's bow. If it weren't for the shadows covering them the green swirls running down the sides of the bow would be obvious. The bow appeared to be rough and made out of stone, but in reality the bow was made of something closer to steel.

"Don't worry. I heard it, kind of hard not to," he said as he leapt back up into the air and onto the houses. He darted in the direction from where the scream came. He kept a tight grip on his bow. He heard the rumors of Meisters who dropped their weapon and were killed quickly, that wasn't going to happen to him.

He stopped on the top of a rooftop with a huge chimney. He peered around the chimney and down onto the ground. There was his target. A large hunchback man. His hands were replaced with large claws. His mask was one straight out of a horror movie. The man was no longer human, he was closer to a monster. His long tail flicked out from underneath him.

"This is going to be fun! Just shoot and hit him with everything you got," said the bow. Michael sighed. He could feel the bow vibrating in his hand, he wanted to say it was from fear as he wasn't exactly very happy at the moment. The tried their best to pass the preliminary rounds and even Lord Death said they had potential, but that didn't make him feel any better.

"We can do this, May," said Michael, reassuring himself more then his bow. "He still doesn't even know we are here. It'll be a simple job, we shoot him and kill him." As he said that last word the chimney was cleaved straight off by a row of threatening claws. Michael swallowed hard.

"I THINK HE KNOWS WE ARE HERE!" shouted May as the top of her voice. Her reflection in the bow became clear. She was a young woman about age sixteen. She was currently naked (back off pervs!), but her blonde hair bounced around her shoulders. She had on a minimal amount make-up today, just lipstick and some blush.

"Change of plans!" shouted Michael as he hoped down and onto the ground. His eyes fell upon the body of the man. The monster had just killed him. He was lying flat on the street his body covered in blood and riddled with three holes in it, "prepare for Attack Plan Q."

"Okay," said May, her voice seemed to be higher and more excited then before. The monster leapt from its place up on top of the house and straight down. It lashed out with its claws at the same time. Michael brought his bow up to block the claws. The monster's face was a mere five inches away from Michael's face.

"Ahem!" said Michael, "Marco James! You are in violation of Death's law of consuming human souls…" he was cut off by May.

"I think you should wait on giving him the speech, You know, maybe try again when he's not trying to kill us!" she shouted at him. Marco, the monster, delivered a kick straight into Michael's chest forcing him to stumble back and away from him.

The monster spun around and made another drive for Michael's throat using his claws. Michael spun the bow around and blocked the swipe. One hand on the bow above the claw and the other one lower.

"He needs to know what he had done is wrong, if we kill him before he knows he won't repent!" shouted Michael as he charged forward thrusting his bow at the monster's gut. The monster jumped up and back on top of the rooftop avoiding the thrust. Michael grunted with frustration, "GET BACK DOWN HERE, YOU SWINE!"

"Swine?" asked May with a chuckle in her voice, "you sound like an old man."

"What else am I supposed to say?" asked Michael ignoring the monster on the rooftop to engage his own weapon in an arguement.

"I don't know!" said May, "try something hipper? Maybe…" she was unable to finish her saying as just as her word was about to come out the monster jumped back down with another downwards swipe. Michael rolled to the side letting the monster's slash drive itself a foot deep into the solid concrete.

"Not very big on manners, is he?" asked Michael, "don't you know it rude to attack people while they having a conversation?" The monster swung its tail around wrapping it around Michael's leg and pulled him to the ground. Michael fell to the ground with a thud. The monster redirected its attack with a straight downward thrust with its claw.

Michael brought his bow up and blocked the dive using the bow. He pushed back forcing the monster up and off of him. Michael quickly returned to his feet and prepared for another attack.

"I don't like being used as a shield, Michael," complained May, "you could ruin my good looks."

The Kishin wasn't about to back off, however, it ran forth with another sweeping motion from its claws. Michael brought his bow back up and blocked the downward swipe. He quickly manuevered the bow and aimed at the monster's gut and fired. The arrow lodged itself into the monster's gut. It roared back in pain.

"Attack Formation Q!" shouted Michael as he jumped up into the air. As he came back down, he grabbed the tip of the bow's black string and pulled back. A small glowing arrow with a four-angled tip appeared in his finger. He fired an arrow straight down and into the monster's shoulder, a desperate attempt to disarm it.

Michael landed closely to the monster's immense body and pulled back his bow once more. The monster roared and swung its tail around, bashing the appendage into Michael's head forcing him to let go of his arrow, resulting in a lost of an attack. The monster backed away warily. Its tongue flicked out as it glared menacingly at Michael and his weapon.

"Two wounds, so far," said Michael announcing their progress thus far, "how are you holding up May?"

"I already said I'm getting tired of being used as a shield," said May calmly. She was getting tired of blocking the claws of the monster, but since Michael took a blow to the head she was lucky so far.

"The monster is really resilient," said Michael as he brought May into a defending stance once again. "I heard that he has only swallowed 10 human souls. Normally, that would've been a cake-walk for most weapons and meisters, so why are we having such a hard time?"

"This is only our first hunt," said May, "our second will be more successful." She didn't want to mention that they may not get a second chance if the fight continued like this.

"Okay," said Michael, "any suggestions on how to finish this?"

"Aim for the head?" suggested May. She never tried to kill a Kishin before, which meant that she had no idea on how to finish them off. Her only guess was to do what they always do in movies and manga, blow the head off

"On it," said Michael as he dashed forward. He quickly drew two more arrows and fired them both. The arrows missed the monster's head, but both of them made contact with its right shoulder, the arm slumped. The arm took too many hits and was out of commission. The monster reared back and made another swipe that barely nicked Michael's face. The swipe, however, still drew blood.

Michael stumbled back. "May, Attack Formation Q, once more!"

"Right!" the bow lengthened itself out to increase the strength of its next shot. It was a rudimentary technique. Most weapons could increase the size of their blades with ease, but May still had some trouble with it.

"DIE!" shouted Michael as he ran up close to is. He put the front of the bow against the monster's open neck and pulled back on the bowstring. A small black shaft with a green line on it appeared in his hand. The arrow's tip rested comfortably at the monster's neck. Michael released the string and watched as the arrow drove itself through the monster's neck. "Messy."

The bow glowed a green color and flew out of Michael's hands. The color soon took the shape of a young, voluptuous woman. She stood about 5 feet five inches (one whole inch taller then Michael). But the most eye-catching part of her body was her hips and her chest, both of them being blessings from a greater source. She wore a dark green blouse with a black cloth covering it. Her black pants seemed to meld with her black shoes. She wore a jade necklace around her neck, and her fingers were covered with golden rings.

A red soul came out of the monster's dead body.

"One down...ninety-eight to go," said Michael as he sat down on the ground as he watched his partner eat the soul whole.

"And then there is the witch's soul," said May as she distracted her gaze upwards away from the pool of blood.

"Sorry about your face," said Michael, "it looks like you won't be the prettiest girl in school any more."

"What the hell do you mean?" shouted May as she quickly pulled a small hand sized mirror out of her pocket. She sighed heavily as her face was left in its normal perfect condition, "hah, hah, very funny! You know my face is my moneymaker." Michael was too busy laughing to notice that the Kishin rebounded back up with surprising speed. The Kishin then turned it surprisingly sharp claws over and made contact with Michael's soft neck.

Did you know that a second to a normal human is like a minute to a miester? A Kishin can rip through someone's head in just two seconds? Most importantly, that a person can be completely alive and active while his head is being ripped off? So, stand still for two whole minutes and imagine someone sawing through your head during that entire time. Not pleasant.

Michael woke groggily from his sleep. His entire body felt dull. Like it was still asleep or on drugs...heavy drugs, as he couldn't even feel the blanket beneath him. He turned over and stood up. His feet collided with the ground and echoed throughout the entire infirmary. It sounded…odd?

In seconds May was up and in his room staring at him. Besides her was an older woman mid-forties, but still attractive. She was in a yellow dress. Her yellow hair flowed around her yellow eyes. She stood there and stared at Michael as well.

"...nice to see you again, May. You too, Canary-chan," said Michael, "What am I doing here?"

"You don't remember?" asked May sounding concerned.

"The last thing I remember is having my head torn off," said Michael, "but if that was true then I wouldn't be here now, would I?"

"You could be," said Canary, "you were in Loew, remember? The place where they can enchant golems to move and protect a certain object. They can also move souls from one person into another, however, this is a very hard thing to do and only two people were ever recorded as capable of doing this."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Michael, remembering the lecture on how Giriko, a chainsaw magic weapon, was able to transfer his soul/memories into his children to live for eight hundred years. "So, you are saying that a Kishin killed me after, I killed it and my partner ate its soul, and that then some dead enchanter transferred my soul into a golem? HAH! Really, May, I understand that you'd want to get back on me for that joke I pulled on you with your face, but couldn't you make it more believable?" He crossed his legs only to be answered by the sound of metal clacking against metal.

(-In Lord Death's office-)

"Sid," said the high and squeaky voice of Lord Death as he talked to the blue zombified teacher, "what have you discovered about that kid's, Michael, latest mission?"

"Apparently the Kishin, he and his partner were attacking, was a Siamese twin," said Sid, "Siamese twins are a pair of children who while fetuses molded together to form one human, often with a special deformity. This created the being to have two souls and two separate brains. When Michael dealt the finishing blow to him he destroyed one brain and released one soul."

"But the other one," questioned Lord Death.

"The other one took a few minutes to gain control of the body and then struck him down," said Sid, "he was quite fortunate that this Cham guy was there to bind his soul to an incomplete golem or else he would've died."

"Yes," said Lord Death, "which brings me onto my next issue. Begin to research and observe this Alfred character. Canary stated that he had an unusually strong soul...and the power to bind actual SOULS to an object is rare..."

"Yes, Lord Death," said Sid as he disappeared from the room.

"I…think I should retire soon," said Lord Death.

* * *

><p>The namesake of my story has been revealed. 'An Unsound Body' was in reference to my main character who lost his body, yadda yadda yadda, and his soul infused to a golem, yadda yadda yadda. Interesting though, no? May and Michael are the first weaponpartner pair. Michael is my character, but May is the work of stormling. So everyone give her big hug and a thank-you letter.

Also, the other two main-partner teams have not yet been decided. So keep sending in OCs. Also, through a rather shocking revelation on my part I realized that there are currently no staff members at DWMA (asides from Lord Death and Sid), I need staff members, too! I have edited the first chapter of the story to include them!

Finally, I want to say this for those of you whose weapons/meisters are chosen your duty is still not done. You still need to design a soul resonance technique for your character, if you do not I will do so. Soul Resonance has no real limitation except make it like your weapon and don't make it overpowered. (ex. A sword becomes capable of shooting out death lasers that kill a Kishin and witch on contact.)

EDIT: I apologize for my numerous May/Eliza and Bow/Trident mistakes. These were all errors and if you see any more throughout the story please let me know.


	3. Chapter 2 Meet Shi and Melody

**Meet Shi and Melody!**

**The Crazy and The Tactical?**

"Let's see…" said a young girl as she looked over the large wall with soon-to-be Kishins littering the walls. Her pale hands fingered her pale face as she intently studied every single inch of the wall for a good job. Her long white hair tied up into a tight tail with a red ribbon, but it still stretched all the way down to the small of her back. She wore a knee-length black skirt and a white button-up shirt. The white stockings she wore greatly contrasted her black shoes. "Which one do you think we should do Shi?"

Another kid wandered up next to her. The kid had long purple hair down about mid-waist in length. Spiky bangs covered up the kid's brown eyes. The kid appeared to be androgynous. It flipped its ushanka hat onto the top of its head and studied the board itself. It wore a white sarashi that covered its entire upper body except the mid-drift. It wore a black jacket over it with blue and red flames on it. It also had on blue jeans with chains hanging off of it. It pulled its hand, which was encased in a fingerless leather glove, out of its pocket and picked one of the papers up.

"How about this one? Oh, and this one!" it said as it pulled another paper off of the wall and flung it over to its partner, "But this one has a nicer background…then of course number of souls we get is important, too…we should get one that is easy, too…then again this one looks good…oh, look this one is in Paris…oh, Rome…and this one is good, too…I know how about this one. Hmmm? I can't decide…how about all of them, Melody! Melody? Melody?" Shi looked around frantic, but the only thing close to it was a large pile of paper.

A hand emerged from the pile of paper and started to move about frantically. Shi jumped off of the ground startled. "Melody? Is that you? Please tell me that's you…because I don't think I could handle it if some random hand tried to get my attention again…the last time it happened it didn't turn out so great…"

The hand came across and slapped Shi across the face sending it to the ground.

"Okay," said Shi, "I'll let you out of the paper pile." It started to dig through the paper pile only to see its partner's face lying there. Shi panicked and started to dig through the load of paper at a quicker pace. "Please be alive! Please be alive!"

Melody sat up and started to breathe heavily, "I saw my entire life flash before my eyes…"

"It was really boring, wasn't it?" replied Shi with a goofy smile. Melody slapped Shi hard across the face once more.

"No," said Melody shoving the rest of the paper mountain off of her body before standing up. "We still need to figure out which one of these we are going to do."

"Ooh! Ooh!" shouted Shi raising its hand like a fifth grader, "how about all of them? Yeah, lets do all of them in one hour!" Shi rocketed up onto its feet and was about to take off when Melody tightened her grip on its collar.

"WE CAN'T DO ALL OF THEM!" Melody sighed as Shi calmed down. She turned her back to it and scrunched down onto the ground and started to finger through them once more muttering something that Shi couldn't make out.

Shi was about to bend down and start helping when it caught something out of the corner of its eye. A sly smile spread across its face. "I think I found the perfect mission for me." Shi's hand went straight onto Melody's butt and started to pat it.

Melody's face turned a bright crimson as she spun around and launched a punch straight into Shi's face sending it flying. "Stop being such a pervert!" Her face still a bright red color.

"I wasn't being a pervert!" shouted Shi, "I was flirting."

"You were groping!" shouted Melody.

"I was just picking out a mission," said Shi still trying to act coy and innocent.

"YOU WERE GROPING MY BUTT!" shouted Melody in the loudest voice possible. Her face became even redder as all of the students surrounding them turned to look at the spectacle. "Its not like that!"

Shi stuck out its bottom lip and said, "you have mission stuck to your butt."

Melody turned around and looked at her own rear end. Sure enough a single mission was attached there. Melody glared at Shi, who only responded with a confident smile and a thumbs up.

Melody sighed. "I guess this means we picked out our mission."

"Praise your glorious behind and its insight!" shouted Shi. Melody slapped Shi's face once more.

"Stop talking about me like that!"

(-In Venice-)

Melody settled down into between two shipping crates. Shi stood besides her. A normal man was wandering around the complex in the open doing some routine check-ups and making sure everything was still in place. The complex was a big oil holding company. They gather oil from all over the world and stored it here and then shipped it out when necessary.

"The Kishin should be on the prowl soon," said Melody as her entire body tensed up, "our report shows most of his killings occurred during the 9 o'clock and the 11 o'clock time span in this area. We wait for him to show his face and then we take him down." Melody unwrapped a piece of gum and put into her mouth and began chewing.

"Do you got any chocolate?" asked Shi ignoring the dangerous location they were in and focusing more on the fact that its mouth was empty.

"I told you bring whatever you wanted," said Melody, half-moaning. "You could've brought your own chocolate…or anything else, but you decided to pack light. I got gum and that's it." She blew bubble with her gum and then quickly sucked it back in to make sure it didn't make a loud pop.

"Give me a piece of gum then," commanded Shi.

"No," said Melody, "I only have one piece left and that's for the trip back."

"Fine," said Shi as it stood up, "I'll just go buy me some chocolate." Shi was yanked back down to the ground by Melody.

"Are you insane?" asked Melody, "A Kishin is on the loose and could show up here at any minute! You are not to go buy chocolate right now!"

Shi shrugged and sat down, "how do we even know when this thing shows up? Its not going to be wearing a big sign that says 'Hey, ya'll I'm a Kishin. Come beat the crap out of me'."

Melody was about to reply when a blood-curdling scream rang through the air. Melody jumped up and looked around. There was the Kishin…there was a big Kishin. Its body was human-like enough…probably 10 feet tall at the least…it wore a cartoon-like mask with a big red nose on the front. One of its legs were shorter then the other, its left hand was large and held a mace while its right hand was skinny with a sword in it.

Shi pouted, "I was really hoping for something prettier."

"IT'S A MONSTER! BEING PRETTY ISN'T ON ITS TO DO LIST!" shouted Melody. She sighed and let out a deep breath, "just transform where we can take it down and leave."

Shi shrugged once more and his body lit up into a fierce crimson glow. His body shrank until it was a small hand-sized cylinder. Melody quickly grabbed onto him. When the light vanished, Shi's weapon form was revealed. It was a small red yo-yo with green and blue alternating spikes pointing towards the middle. The loop that held it to Melody's finger was a bright crimson.

Melody flicked the yo-yo off at the Kishin. It pounded into the Kishin, but due to the huge difference in size it only managed to attract the Kishin's attention. It turned its face over towards the duo with Melody spinning Shi in a sleeper-like fashion. The Kishin roared.

"Congrats, you ticked him off," said Shi with a chuckle. "I say we celebrate with chocolate."

"We didn't do anything!" shouted Melody at her partner, "when we defeat him I'll buy you some chocolate until then no chocolate for you!" She blew a bubble once more with her gum, this time letting it pop.

"WHAT!" shouted Shi in its yo-yo as it began to rock back and forth from Melody's fingertips, "No chocolate! YOU ARE A MEANIE! A big gum chewing meanie…with a cute butt."

"What did I say about mentioning my butt!" shouted Melody once more.

The Kishin ignored the fact that the two were arguing and brought its mace down and into the ground. Melody barely managed to back off in time, but the debris from the attack still nicked her face. Melody skidded back a bit and into a large barrel directly behind her.

"Crap," said Melody as she stood back using the barrel for balance, "I was almost crushed by that attack…" her eyes trailed onto the barrel. She smiled. She flung Shi out and around the barrel. His thin black wire wrapped around the barrel and quickly tightened up around it. She brought her entire body around and flung the barrel up and into the Kishin's head. Again, with no real effect, asides from having the black gooey contents spill out all over the Kishin's head.

"It looks better this way," said Shi with a smirk, "much less uglier."

The Kishin roared once more, this time bringing its sword down and into the pavement leaving a large scar in the ground. Melody whipped Shi around once more. This time eight curved blades protruded out of Shi's body. The razor sharp blades all dug into the Kishin's chest causing it to stumble back from shock. The Kishin returned its attention to Melody. It brought is mace around and smashed it into the nearby wall, with Melody agilely jumping above the swing. Melody landed on the ground once more and began to run around it.

Melody flicked Shi out into the complex had him dig his sharp blades into another barrel. She yanked and brought both Shi and the barrel careening into the monster's side. The monster stumbled onto one knee, but recovered quickly bringing its mace back down into the ground besides Melody. Melody let out a sharp and short curse as she was thrown backwards from the momentum.

Melody collided with the ground, but quickly got back up, just in time to avoid another devastating swing of the Kishin's sword. Melody scrambled around for awhile before she got back onto her feet. She flung Shi into the air and have him wrap around one of the highest support beams in the complex. As the Kishin turned around and swung his sword at her, Shi's entire body tensed up and the string came sliding back into the yo-yo lifting Melody off of the ground and above the Kishin's sword.

The Kishin growled. He leapt from his location and into the air and made another swing at Melody. Melody let go of the yo-yo and fell back to the ground allowing the sword to graze over her head, but underneath Shi's body. Melody landed onto the ground and began to sprint away.

"Hey!" shouted Shi from its location around the beam, "aren't you forgetting someone? I'm still up here you meanie!"

"I didn't forget about you," said Melody as she continued her jog around the complex with the Kishin making numerous maneuvers and powerful swings after her. "I just didn't want to get cut up!"

"If you get cut up can I have your…" started Shi before Melody cut it off.

"NO! YOU DO NOT GET MY BUTT!" she shouted.

"I was going to say gum!" shouted Shi back, "I'm not a pervert you know!"

"Oh, shut it," said Melody as she slid back behind some boxes and hid from the Kishin. The Kishin smiled and its snake-like tongue slithered out of its mouth as it approached the boxes. It lifted its mace into the air threatening to bring it down and crush the boxes that Melody hid behind. In one fell motion, the Kishin brought its mace down and into the boxes splattering its contents all over its own body. It roared back and checked its surroundings. One flattened human was missing from the mess. It scanned the area intently trying to figure out where it could've gone.

"Looking for someone," said Melody as she undid the last of Shi's loops around beams and freed him. She landed confidently on the ground. "Now I know a monster of your size must have tiny brain, but I figure you did notice one thing about this building, didn't you?"

The Kishin looked up at the ceiling, lost.

Melody spun Shi around on the ground, his blades fully extended. The contact the blades made with the ceiling started a couple of sparks. Soon those sparks caught the entire yo-yo on fire. Melody chuckled as she left the building her flaming yo-yo extended a few feet behind her. "This complex that I'm leaving is a oil storage center and everyone knows one thing…oil is highly flammable." Melody took her final step outside of the complex and Shi's yo-yo form zoomed through the air, still on fire.

The Kishin was unaware of the fact that whenever Melody or it busted open a barrel or a couple of boxes, oil splattered all over its body. When Shi's flaming body came in contact with the oil covered Kishin, the Kishin lit up like a candle. However, an accidental side effect was that entire building blew up into flames. This burning building sent out one large rock that crashed straight into Melody's back. She was alright, just knocked out and had a few major burns, but nothing that time wouldn't heal. She was sent to the infirmary as soon as she and Shi returned to the academy.

* * *

><p>Here is Chapter 2 for you all readers. Yes, Shi is androgynous and bisexual. I had no idea on whether or not to call Shi a 'he', 'she', or 'it'. So I went with 'it', I apologize to all of those I have offended. Shi is the work of Full On 124 and Melody is made by Redcap55.<p>

I still have not selected the last character pair for this story. You may still submit and try to get your character accepted for this story as the final duo. However, I do plan to have the next chapter up by next Sunday so you have to send him/her in by next Friday at the latest.


	4. Chapter 3 The Lost

**Chapter 3:**

**The Lost meets a Witch!**

"Where are we going?" asked a weapon. The weapon was a gauntlet. The gauntlet was different from most weapons as not it was tightly wrapped around its meister's right hand, instead of having the meister hold it. Above the four fingers was a short and sharp blade.

The man who was with the weapon was pretty lanky being skinny and not too strong. His black hair had a huge cowlick in the middle of it, so it stuck straight up into the air. He was currently in a plain red t-shirt. Ash was currently in navy pants that and pretty plain black shoes with tall red socks. The duo were driving about on a moped throughout the busy streets.

The man pulled a small map out with his left hand and held it up. "We were supposed to go left…a couple of miles ago…I think."

"Don't worry, Ash!" shouted the gauntlet, "We'll find our way! Just follow my directions!"

"I've been following your directions for the past half an hour!" shouted Ash, "I don't know if you know this, Xander, but I'm beginning to think that it is your lousy directions that have gotten us lost again!"

"How is that possible?" asked Xander, "My directions couldn't have gotten lost ten times already!"

"I'm aware," said Ash. He was keeping track of their detours, and technically they were on their eleventh detour, but he didn't feel like correcting him right now. If only they made maps more readable. If they could do that, then they wouldn't be in this situation. Or if they just invented something to shut his partner up.

"Why are we doing a search here, anyways?" asked Xander, "its not like chaos is going to break out if we don't."

"Lord Death was pretty adamant about it," said Ash as he let out a brief sigh, "he said there seemed to be a pretty strong concentration of magic coming from this area over the past couple of months. He initially dismissed it as random phenomena, but some recent discoveries made him second guess himself so he sent us here."

"Magic means witches, right?" asked Xander

"Y-yeah," said Ash his entire body shuddering from fear now. He swallowed loudly as he started to consider the possibility of running into a rogue witch.

"I want to fight some witches!" shouted Xander, "where are some no-good, low down, dirty witches that we can bash in?"

"Hopefully far away," said Ash, "I don't think we can handle a witch at our current level. You hear those stories about how they make their own kids into test subjects or how some of them are immortal…I don't want to fight someone who is immortal, I don't think we could handle him."

"Who are you talking about?" asked Xander, "did you forget you are with me! As long as you are with me we can hunt down and beat any witches that come our way!"

"I think it would be better if we waited," said Ash, "maybe once we get a Kishin egg or two, or maybe even, I don't…99! Maybe then we can try. We aren't ready to be a Death Scythe, yet."

"Why are they called a Death Scythe?" he asked, "I think Death Gauntlet is much more appropriate!"

"Maybe you can take that up with Lord Death when we go back," said Ash.

"Let's go back now!"

"I thought you wanted to find a witch!"

"Yeah! Kill a witch first, then Lord Death!"

"Kill a witch, huh?" asked a high-pitched female voice.

Ash turned the moped around to see who said that and explain to them that they weren't insane for hunting down a witch, but he was too busy being amazed. The woman who said that was currently floating a few feet off of the ground. She wore a pure black robe, Ash could just make out her blue eyes. She threw a coy smile his way.

"Witch!" Ash slammed onto the moped's gas on the moped began to speed off and take off at high speed throughout the streets. He began to swerve through the busy streets avoiding the numerous cars and motorcycles. He suddenly made a quick turn down a dark alley.

"Hey, you do know you left the witch back there?" shouted Xander, "we can't fight her if we don't turn around and let her catch back up to us!"

"I don't want…" a large black boot slammed into Ash's chin forcing him backwards and off of the moped and onto the cement. The moped went on for a few more feet before smashing to the ground. The moped was a mess.

The Witch was back and this time she was in front of them. She had her long leg fully extended at Ash's face. She smiled. "The name's Mare and its very rude to leave a lady left all alone, especially after you called her a witch! What an insult!"

"You aren't a witch?" moped Xander, "This isn't fun if you are not a witch." Ash's hand gripped around her long rope.

"Now, sweetie, I never said that." Mare's body disappeared into a blur and she appeared right above them. She spun around and launched a fast and swift kick into the ground. Ash barely managed to roll to the side to avoid the crushing blow. Ash swiftly landed back onto his feet. Mare simply smirked at them.

"She's a witch, Ash!" shouted Xander as she eyed the witch. "Let's kill her!"

"_She's too fast for me to run away from," _thought Ash as he studied the area around him, "_not to mention the simple fact that my moped's a bust. I guess fighting is going to be my best option."_ He breathed heavily.

"Let's get ready for a quick fight," said Mare as she charged towards him again at an impressive gait. She launched a second kick at Ash, but Ash quickly made a punch with Xander's metallic arm-blade body and caught Mare's foot. The two colliding forces created a huge gust of wind, but it only managed to throw Ash backwards and into the dirt. Mare remained stationed with her leg still sturdy in the ground.

"She's a little bit stronger then us," said Xander. His body becoming visible in the reflection of the arm blade. He didn't appear to be as tall as Ash, but it was hard to tell anything in the reflection of the arm blade. His most notable features were his short chestnut hair and green eyes.

"Such a poor group of children," said Mare as she began to stride towards them, "is this really the best the DWMA has to offer? I would've thought that Lord Death has a minimum status…like maybe having the knowledge to know that mopeds are only for nerds." Mare chuckled at the crashed moped.

Ash stood up. His entire body was shaking as he braced Xander's weapon form. He swallowed hard. He actually made that moped by hand. He saved up money from some odd jobs around the academy and created the moped with his own two hands and now it was busted.

"Xander," said Ash as he braced his body against the hard ground of the alley, "let's finish this quickly."

"Yeah, this is pretty dirty alley. You probably want to leave it quickly don't you?"

"Actually, I didn't notice the dirt I was too busy focusing on the witch in front of us, but now that you…mention…it," Ash started to trail off as he focused on the large clumps of dirt on the ground. He swallowed hard. "Great, I got to fight a witch and my own cleanliness problems."

"Can't you just focus on the witch first?" asked Xander.

Ash's entire body froze up. The ground was so dirty and he had been laying on it a couple of minutes ago. His body was probably covered in dirt. His hand quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a small mirror. He examined his face in the mirror. "Phew…I'm still clean."

"Of course you are clean you took three showers before we even left and then two more at the inn a couple of blocks down the road," muttered Xander.

"Sorry," said Ash, "I forgot that some people still don't take showers, they take baths. They just sit in there…in a tub of their own filth…just sitting there."

"DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO WASH ME!" shouted Xander.

"Sorry," said Ash, "I just hate dirt."

"I know…" said Xander, "I've been your partner for a couple of months now. Your engineering skills are second only to your bathing problems."

"Heelllloooo," said Mare as she waved at them, "I hate to interrupt your little…problem session, but I've got places to go, evil to cook up, and people to kill." She launched another kick in Ash's direction. Ash ducked underneath the kick and dodged to the side allowing the kick to gracefully cut the air above them.

"Now Ash! Hit her!" shouted Xander seeing an opening. Ash wandered over to the side instead letting the opportunity pass him by. "Why didn't you hit her?"

"Unlike you," began Ash, "I am a gentleman and would never ever hurt a woman."

"Too bad I don't have a problem with hitting a prissy boy like yourself," said Mare as she drove her leg back around and through the air. Ash brought Xander up and blocked the kick with Xander's metal plating. Despite having blocked Mare's kick the force from the kick still sent him skidding a few feet back.

"HIT HER!" shouted Xander, "before she tries to hit us again!"

"I don't wanna," whined Ash.

"Not only do you look and fight like a little girl, you complain like one too," said Mare as she jumped into the air and made a direct downward kick at Ash. Ash dodged to the side and watched in amazement as Mare's ferocious kick destroyed the pavement beneath them.

"If you don't suck it up and hit that woman like a real man would do, we will both die!" shouted Xander.

"A real man would never hit a woman!"

"Then hit her like the prissy boy you are!" replied Xander.

"Now that was just crude and uncalled for!" shouted Ash.

"Hit her!" shouted Xander.

"Not until you apologize," replied Ash.

"Hit her!"

"Not until you apologize!"

"RUN!"

"Huh?" asked Ash. He was met with a surprisingly strong kick to his abdomen that sent him flying backwards again and tumbling across the pavement. He bit his bottom lip as he staggered back to his feet. "You are making it really hard to be a gentleman!"

"I'm so sorry," said Mare, "but you are just so fun to hit. As a matter of fact I think I'll do it again." She brought her leg up into the air and then brought it straight down with both strength and speed. Ash rolled to the side avoiding the blunt of her blow. Ash quickly stood back up and gripped the metal blade.

"I guess being a gentleman is out of the question, isn't it?" asked Ash with a heavy and reluctant sigh.

"Apparently," replied Xander.

"Let's go!" shouted Ash as he took off for Mare.

"Oh, darling, you are too badly injured to even stand a chance against me!" Mare brought her leg over and through the air and straight at Ash. Ash ducked underneath and then brought Xander's weapon form around and into her stomach, piercing it with ease.

Mare stumbled back for a few feet before regaining her balance. She stared at him for a few seconds before she stuck her leg out at its fullest and began to spin around in circles. The more she spun around the quicker the outstretched leg moved and the more momentum it gained. Once she gained enough momentum she approached Xander and Ash with the quick rotational art.

Ash brought his arm blade up and in front of his body protecting it to ensure that he would be able to land a successful retaliatory strike. Mare brought her entire leg shuddering into Ash's body sending him careening back a few feet and into the nearby wall. Ash slammed into the wall and collapsed onto the ground. Ash coughed up a small amount of blood and staggered to his feet.

"I think we are going to need Soul Resonance," said Ash slowly taking in there chances of doing a retaliatory strike.

"Cool," said Xander, "you are always more fun during Soul Resonance."

"Ready?" asked Ash.

"And able!" replied Xander.

"Let's go! Soul Resonance!" shouted Ash and Xander in perfect unison. Their souls began to merge to form one more powerful soul. Xander's blade began to glow and become sharper. Ash stopped and collapsed to the ground, coughing up more blood. His body was in such a terrible condition it couldn't withstand the strain of Soul Resonance.

"That's enough kiddies," said Mare as she turned around, "I'm bored with you and you are clearly unable to do anything about it, so I'll just have to finish you off." She brought her leg straight up into the air readying herself to do another downward kick when she stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Crap. The other witches need me, apparently some issues have arisen on the home front. You get to leave until our next meeting, until then." With that Mare's entire body blurred and disappeared.

Later that day DWMA officials appeared on the scene and dragged an unconscious Ash and Xander away. Ash was immediately put into intensive care at the DWMA infirmary having sustained so many deadly injuries, Xander was luckier. His body may have been shook up, but due to his weapon form he had only sustained minimal injuries.

* * *

><p>The Main Characters have been chosen! Ash (Kiwifeather) and Xander (eggward) have filled out the remaining slots. This means that Alexander and May (Stormling), Melody (redcap55) and Shi (fullon124), and Ash and Xander will be seen continuously throughout the story! But that does not mean I am no longer accepting OC's so continue to send them in!<p> 


	5. Chapter 4 The Remedial Lesson

**The Remedial Lesson…**

**And Cake?**

"I've collected all of the students who have failed their recent mission and ended up in the infirmary as you asked," said Sid as he approached Lord Death's office.

"Good, good. Bring them on in. I'm just making some tea."

"I've lost my entire body and now I'm going to get a lecture from Lord Death," said Michael as he sighed right behind Sid. He was dressed in his usual military-like garb, but the rest of him remained a giant hulk of metal with screws in every joint.

"Relax Michael," said May, "there are probably some upside to being a golem." She was in her classic dark green blouse and she wore a black cloth jacket over it. She also had on black pants.

"Name one!"

"Well, there's…uh…well…what about you guys?" said May turning her attention to the other four students who accompanied them.

Melody blew and popped a bubble. "Its makes you look cooler." She was in a white button up shirt with a similar black leather jacket, except that it has red trim. She had on a black pencil skirt on with it.

"That's the best you got?" said Shi, "I don't care. I'd change you bodies in a heartbeat…as long as I can also change partners." Shi shimmied next to May and was about put a hand on her butt, when Melody slapped it. Shi fell to the ground and its white sarashi fell around its body. It had a sleeved jacket that has blue and red flames all over it on today. Shi dropped its ushanka hat to the ground.

"She didn't ask you to grope her!" shouted Melody.

"Melody, Melody, Melody," said Shi as it stood up, "there are going to be a lot of butts in the world, but yours is still the best." Shi made another attempt to grope it, but Melody dodged safely to the side sending it falling into Ash and them both to the ground. "Hey, you are kind of cute!"

Ash's eye began to twitch. "I-I'm…I d-don't…think this is…you know…I-I think…well, you know."

"He wants you off of him," said Xander as he made a swift kick into Shi's gut sending him flying off of Ash. He was still in the same garb as he was in his previous mission, a similar steam punk look going on. "I don't particularly care about your problems…I want to see this mission Lord Death is going to give me…you guys will probably get a remedial lesson."

"My…pants!" shouted Ash as he stood up. There was dust on his cargo pants. His red shirt was also dirty, but not as bad as his pants. His hair was currently sticking up in the back of his head. "I need to change! I need to take a shower! I need to clean!" He quickly went into a sprint down the hall in order to escape. He slammed into the door and frantically pulled on the handle, it wouldn't open.

"You cannot leave here without permission from Lord Death," said Sid as he continued down the hall, "I'm sure once he tells you all about the remedial lesson…and punishments for some, you'll be allowed to leave."

"Punishment!" shouted Melody popping yet another bubble.

"Yeah! We are going to see the Reaper Chop!" shouted Shi, "he's like 'REAPER CHOP'!" Shi brought its hand down into Michael's shoulder in a chopping motion multiple times, "and then you'd be like 'OWIE! Someone help me!'"

"Say what you will," said Michael, "we're not the ones who blew a building up."

Shi pondered this for a moment before shouting, "WE ARE GOING TO BE PUNISHED!"

"Hey, guys," said May looking over at Ash who was currently crumpled against a wall foaming at the mouth, "I think something is wrong with Ash."

"Ah, he'll get over it," said Xander as he followed the rest of the group who were all moving forward leaving both Ash and May back there. Even Sid left. Michael sighed and turned around returned to May's side.

"Need…water…and fresh pants…" said Ash in the corner, "need water."

Michael shrugged and lifted Ash up and onto his shoulder. "I'm only doing this were we won't be punished by Lord Death. I know if I don't go up there with him, then you aren't going to come," he said, explaining his action.

"At least someone has half a heart."

"…water…"

The trio soon arrived at the center of Death's office. Their partner who left them back there were gathered around the table of Lord Death with a cup of tea in front of them all. Melody was graciously drinking some, while both Shi and Xander hadn't even touched theirs.

"Oh, goodie," said Lord Death through his normally goofy mask as he brought his two oversized gloves up into the air. "Now that everyone is here we can begin."

"Finally," said Shi letting out a sigh of relief, "I thought we were just going to sit here and discuss your terrible tea."

"REAPER CHOP!" Lord Death brought his large hand into Shi's forehead sending him sprawling to the ground.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"That one was for the destruction of the building on your latest mission and this one…" said Lord Death as he brought his hand back up into the air, "is for insulting my homemade tea!" Lord Death brought his hand back down into Shi knocking him back even further.

Michael and May chuckled as they settled into their sits after propping Ash up against a chair. He was halfway passed out from his previous episode.

"Ah…should we be worried about him?" asked Lord Death taking a look at Ash.

"Nah," said Xander, "he does this all the time. I find the best thing to do when he has a panic attack like this is to just let him be."

"Somehow I don't believe that," said Melody.

"REAPER…CHOP! CHOP!" said Lord Death as he brought his hand into both Xander and Melody. "That's for the destruction of the building on your latest mission, Melody."

"Why the heck did you hit me?" said Xander, "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"You got hit for dismissing your partner's panic attack…again," said Lord Death. "Any-hoo! Onto your remedial lesson. You have probably covered Magic Tool in your previous classes and you should know about their immense power, am I correct?"

"For those of us who went to classes probably," said Shi with a laugh. He was currently one of the students at the school with the most absences.

"Yes," sighed Melody, "we talked about Magic Tools…not all of them…but we've covered at least three of them. Why?"

"Recently," said Lord Death, "there came to light that one of the Death Scythes stationed around the world found another one. The infamous Prison Jar."

"Prison Jar?" asked May, "I've never heard of it. Why did Eibon create it?"

"It wasn't always called the Prison Jar," said Lord Death, "it was originally called the Eternal Pot. It appears to be a normal small pot with a wooden lid, but it can contain a person's soul for up to three millennia."

"Three millennia," said May, "that seems unnecessary long."

"I've been around for at least four millennia," said Lord Death, "are you saying that I've been around for an unnecessary long time?"

"No! No! Not at all," said May waving her hands in front of her face frantically to calm Lord Death, "you haven't been around long enough!"

"That's right," said Lord Death, "anyways…Eibon originally planned to put the life of someone dearly precious to him in it until he could create the Magic Tool for eternal life. However, it wasn't to be. The Prison Jar gained its name because about 2999 years ago, Eibon used the powers of the Prison Jar to imprison a very powerful witch in it. No other soul could be put into the jar unless they wanted to die at the hands of the witch."

"So?" asked Michael, "what does it matter? I feel bad for poor ol' Eibon, but he did what he had to do."

"The Witch that was imprisoned in this Magic Tool had a large amount of untapped power," continued Lord Death, "his powers were on the same par as mine was all the way back then. Since then I have gotten stronger so there's no doubt I'd be able to defeat him now."

"Great," said Xander, "so why are we getting involved this? There's no need to waste my powers in this."

"Because while I may still be able to defeat him," said Lord Death, "the Prison Jar was found all the way in Asia. I am bound to Death City and cannot go there and retrieve this Magic Tool. So, I need some delivery boys and girls."

"We are going to be your mailmen, basically?" asked Melody. She wasn't too thrilled about this idea.

"In less then one year," said Lord Death, "the seal on this Magic Tool will break and the witch will be released back into the world. If you guys cannot go out and bring in the Magic Tool. If he is released there's no doubt in my mind his power would begin to grow again to monumental amounts until he is once again a match for me."

"Why are you saying 'if'?" said Xander jumping up, "we can do this without a single hitch! Me and Ash can do it without the help of these other people. Why waste their time?"

"Because you guys recently lost to a witch," said Lord Death, "this Magic Tool will no doubt be attracting the witches as well. If we want to be successful we must attack in masse. The Death Scythe will be there to protect you guys if need be, but your mission is not to fight. Your mission is to grab the Prison Jar and come back here as fast as possible."

"What?" shouted Shi, "I want to fight!"

"I believe the best choice in a situation like this is to not fight," said Lord Death, "surely, some of our previous students along with our previous staff members would agree with you, but these witches must not be fought with at all possible costs."

"Of course, Lord Death," said Melody immediately trying to cover up Shi's rudeness, "attacking a Witch would have dire reparations. We'd be lucky if we got out of there with just severe injuries. Most students would die."

"Safety is not our only concern," said Lord Death, "some witches tend to kidnap students from our facilities and...oh, well! You don't need to think about that!"

"Worry about what?" asked May beginning to get increasingly nervous and annoyed with Lord Death.

"Being kidnapped and...other things," said Lord Death.

"Do you think it could happen to us?" asked May, really wishing she hadn't been chosen for this remedial lesson.

"Who wants cake?" said Lord Death, ignoring May's question.

"ME!" shouted Shi, "Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles." Shi greedily grabbed four slices and quickly began to scoop multiple bites into its large mouth.

"What...what about the mission and the kidnapping?" shouted May.

"Relax," said Xander, "you'll be heading out with yours truly...nothing bad can happen to you. Just relax and enjoy your cake." He accepted a slice of chocolate cake as well and began to noisily munch on it.

"Yeah..." said Michael, "and if he fails we got the Death Scythes. Nothing much to worry about we are just the delivery boys. The Death Scythe and their partners will probably be joining in the assault, if they are anything like Stein and Spirit we'd be safe."

"What happened to those two, anyway?" asked May.

"Hey, now!" shouted Lord Death interrupting their conversation, "let's not talk about two people who disappeared due to mysterious circumstances and enjoy our cake instead."

"What happened to them!"

"Cake, Sid?" asked Lord Death ignoring her and inviting the blue man over to the dinner table.

* * *

><p>Hello everybody! I welcome you guys to the possible last chapter! The gang of six just got a remedial lesson handed down by Lord Death himself! This could spell trouble for these students and the rest of the world!<p> 


	6. Chapter 5 The Mission

**Chapter 5: The Mission!**

**Will They Succeed?**

The crew arrived in a small town in Kahbavorsk. The sea of Okhotsk was to their right according to their coordinates, Lord Death apparently accidentally dropped them off…20 miles off target. Ash was the first in line, he had just taken his third shower of the day, and he was brimming with energy. Xander was in his weapon form neatly attached to his right hand. Melody was a couple of feet behind them playing with Shi in his yo-yo form. She was performing dozen of complicated tricks and maneuvers by slinging her yo-yo around in a circle. Michael and May were lagging even further behind them by a dozen or so feet. They were just taking their sweet time sightseeing. May was even out of her weapon form, she was out with a camera taking some pictures of the seagulls that happened to land there.

"Maybe we can all go swimming after this!" shouted Shi eyeing the sea from his vantage point of high up in the air, where Melody had thrown him.

"You just want to see us in bikinis, don't you?" asked May from her spot, turning around and giving Shi the evil eye.

"I like that idea," said Xander, "I wouldn't mind seeing some girls in bikinis…especially some girls like you…maybe you should call your friends. Get us a party going down here…"

Melody ignored the current slightly inappropriate conversation that was going on as she blew another bubble and popped it, "why didn't Lord Death drop us off closer to the site. I mean, he wants us to get the Magic Tool doesn't he?"

"Its Lord Death," said Ash with a shrug, "he didn't even give me permission to bring the dune buggy I've been working on. It would've made traversing this distance so easy."

"It would've just made noise," said Michael as he kept his eyes trained at the skies, "we still haven't met up with our Death Scythe. If we rode your dune buggy it would've made noise and the witches would've had a search party come and look for us."

"Where are the witches!" shouted Xander as he began to frantically look around trying to find his new target to attack. He found nothing. Xander's head slumped back down in his reflection. "Great. Thanks for the false alarm."

"If you were listening, Xander," said Ash, "you would've known that they were no witches."

"No witches!" shouted Shi, "then this mission is going to boring as hell! What am I supposed to do? I don't even have a good spot to look at Melody's butt from where I am!"

Melody dropped Shi in his yo-yo form to the ground. She lifted her foot up and rapidly stomped down upon him. "STOP TALKING ABOUT IT, WILL YA?" After ten or so stomps she bent back down and picked Shi up.

"I'm bleeding! I'm bleeding!" shouted Shi as its reflection frantically searched its body for any wounds, "no…no. I think I'm all good. I just overreacted a little."

"Good," said Michael as he walked past them, "now hopefully none of the witches heard you going crazy. May, I think you better be turning into your weapon form now."

May nodded. Her body scrunched up and into an elongated bow. Michael quickly grabbed her and began to walk again. "This is going to be a long walk," complained May.

"We've been walking for nearly an hour, given our normal walking time, the distance to the site, and factoring in that there is very little wind today," said Ash as he quickly did some calculations in his head, "we should be getting there in about another hour."

"Another hour!" shouted Shi, "I can't walk any more…please go on without me…I'll just collapse."

"Shi," said Melody growing increasingly irritated, "you haven't walked at all since we started. You are two feet off of the ground, in your yo-yo form, and I'm carrying you. You don't get to act tired."

"Fine…can I act hungry?" said Shi, "because I really want some chocolate."

"We've only been at this for an hour," complained Xander, "if you don't stop whining I'll come over there and kick your little androgynous butt!"

"You like my butt?" asked Shi, "I think yours is cute, too!"

Michael let out a brief sigh. "Melody. I give you permission to throw Shi out into the sea."

"Shi's not so bad once you get to know him," said Melody trying her best to cover for Shi's annoyances. The entire gang immediately gave Melody the same look. None of them believed her.

"Hey!" shouted Shi, "I'm still here!"

"No one cares," said Xander with his normal cocky attitude.

"WHAT?"

Ash's entire body came to stop. He paused where he was in the sand. "Someone's following us."

"How can you tell?" asked Michael as he swerved around in his spot. He immediately drew back in his bow's string and took aim. "I could only hear Shi."

"Xander talks a lot," said Ash, "I'm used to ignoring him…but that's not what worries me. I think they've been following us for sometime now…the fact that we just now noticed them puts us in a bad situation."

"What makes you think that?" asked Melody. She was spinning Shi in large wide circles readying herself for her attack.

"One," began Ash, "they know we are meisters and weapons due to the fact that our weapons have been talking. Two: they're obviously talented at what they do. And three: they haven't killed us yet."

"Isn't three a good thing," asked May.

"No," said Melody as she swallowed hard, "it means if they are our enemy then they know for a fact that they can take us out. If they couldn't take us all out before they would've taken one of us out at a distance then ran away. We would have to focus on taking care of the person they attacked, so they would have a clean getaway."

"Now that we are onto them what are they gonna do?" asked Michael.

"One of three things," said Ash, "They are either going to runaway, let us stand here like idiots until we drop our guard, or attack the weakest link."

"Right," said Michael, "basic rule of assassination attack the weakest link…which means we got to protect the weakest link." Michael and Melody ran back and immediately positioned themselves in front of Ash.

"Don't worry Ash, we'll protect you!" shouted Melody giving him a thumbs-up.

"_I'm the weakest link?" _wailed Ash in his head. Despite his thoughts, he braced himself to fight. He brought Xander up to his chest and readied himself to make a quick punch if need be.

The area went silent in a heartbeat. Nobody saw any movements from beyond the forest. The forest was just as dead as the sand around them. There was no wind today either, so the sand remained motionless around their feet. The gentle lapping of the waves against the ground almost seemed to be mocking them as they readied to fight their invisible opponent. The only real sound that could be heard was Melody's nearly silent gum-chewing.

Michael was the first to act. He threw his body to the ground in an instant, with Melody and then Ash following right after as the insanely large tan boomerang hovered over their heads threatening to decapitate them with the strength and speed with which it was thrown. Michael quickly brought May around and fired a small round of arrows in the direction that the boomerang came.

Ash and Melody turned their attention to the boomerang. Melody lashed out with Shi, its small metallic body aimed dead center at the boomerang. Ash was right behind it. He brought Xander around and fired a punch at the boomerang. Then it swerved. A boomerang that ordinarily had a select path of travel swerved. It moved to the left allowing both attacks to fumble past it as it spun past them both. The boomerang soon returned to a new place hidden in the bushes.

"It's a Magic Weapon," said Xander, "be prepared! We don't know how strong it is, it could kill us."

"I thought Magic Weapons were the good guys," complained Shi, "why is this one trying to kill us!"

"Who knows!" shouted Melody as she skidded across the beach waiting for another attack from the boomerang. Nothing came.

"He must be trying to attack from a better position," said May, "attacking us from this direction proved to be a bad choice. He must want to attack us from another direction. It's the obvious choice."

Michael brought May back up and took aim once more. He fired an arrow into a random bush trying to flush the attacker out. No one emerged. He sighed and quickly drew the bowstring back, gaining another arrow. He didn't fire this one, instead he just surveyed the surroundings. He was waiting for a second attack.

"I think," began Ash, "we should start to move." Melody shot him a disappointed look, while both Shi and Xander just looked annoyed. Michael didn't dare turn his head. "If we just stand here, not only are we sitting ducks, but we are also not getting any closer to the target. Our mission was to get the Magic Tool and not to fight, remember?" There was something else going on here. Despite the attack, despite the Magic Weapon, there was something wrong, something missing that shouldn't be.

Melody let out an exasperated sigh, "I've been with Shi for so long…I've forgotten what completing a mission is like. I agree with Ash. Let's run."

"No way!" shouted Shi, "this person is trying to pick a fight with us! I say we fight back and kill it! Let's not run, let's fight! Forget the mission!"

"I agree with Shi," said Xander, "we do not want to turn our back to these guys. The instant we turn our back, Michael and Melody are going to die. I, of course, will protect ash so he'll be alright, but you two…you two are in some deep trouble."

"We're running," said Michael, "The three people with legs want to run. So you and Shi are just going to have to shut up." He shared one more glance backwards before he nodded forward. "Now!" The trio burst out into a quick run. The boomerang seared through the air once more aiming for lower back of all of the meisters.

The boomerang slammed into Michael's back sending him flying to the ground. The boomerang whipped back to the bushes, avoiding Melody and Xander.

"Leave him," shouted Shi, "leave him to die an honorable soldier's death!" Despite Shi's pleading, Melody whipped around. Melody kneeled onto the sand and was about to help Michael up, when he braced himself against the ground and lifted himself up without her help.

"I didn't feel it," said Michael as he checked his back. "I didn't feel the boomerang. Only thing I felt was being thrown through the air." He waved his hand in front of his face to make sure he could still feel some things. He couldn't. It wasn't something he noticed before, because before he was too busy adjusting to the rest of the body. The weight, the clunky movements, the mocking commentary from the class. The lack of feeling was never an issue before.

"Great," said Ash, "nice to know, but I suggest we start running before me or Melody have to feel it." He was already a couple yards ahead of them. He hadn't stopped when Michael was sent to the ground, either out of the intelligence that stopping would only make him a target or the fact that Xander was still shouting at him to get his butt in gear.

"Something's not right," said May as Michael brought her back up to his side.

"What's that?" asked Melody scanning the area once more to make sure that they weren't under attack.

"We are still alive," said May, "whoever is attacking us is toying with us. They are obviously better then we are."

"Then you guys are!" shouted Xander, "Me and meister still haven't been hit once!" Ash bit his bottom lip, despite Xander's point he still knew they weren't out of the woods yet. Maybe…maybe they should try Soul Resonance. That was when it finally sunk into Ash's head. What was wrong with this picture…he couldn't see the souls of his attackers.

He frantically surveyed the scene. None. The lack of souls were starting to upset him. He saw six of them. His, his partner, and their friends. But their two enemies…nothing. He didn't feel a thing. "Guys!" shouted Ash after sharing one more look around, "I can't see their souls, can you?"

Michael and Melody shared one more look around the open beach. Nothing. They didn't see them either. Their immediate thought was a witch using Soul Protect, but…that didn't explain the Magic Weapon. That should still be visible to them…so where was it?

(-in the bushes-)

A man was hunkered down behind some bushes. He was dressed in a dark green robe. The only features that could be truly seen was the pale complexion of his face and his one hand that was gripping a large dark green bottle tightly. "You know…I think Lord Death is losing it…sending these kids to retrieve a Magic Tool…"

"Can't you just stop attacking them," cried the boomerang, "I mean I know you like to test your students…but isn't this a little drastic? They could get hurt!" The reflection in the boomerang was that of a young woman. Her hair was jet black that was wavy all the way down to where it ended, at the middle of her back.

"That's the plan," said the man as he took another swig from the dark green bottle, "if they survive me attacking them…they can survive the witches attacking them."

"And what if they don't!" shouted the boomerang.

"Hmmm…I guess I'll kill them."

"That's not a good answer!" The weapon morphed, it took on a dark green hue and quickly changed into the person in the reflection. Except this time she was wearing a V-neck red jumper which had a black T-shirt underneath it. She also had on black slacks and red high-heeled boots. Around her neck was a long silver chain, "you'll just have to do this test without me."

"Fine," said the man as he stood up, "It might be a good warm-up for me anyways." He cracked his knuckles as he began to exit out of the bushes. "Hope they are ready to fight me." He dropped his dark green bottle onto the grassy ground before exiting from the bushes.

"Saul…" said the weapon as she desperately tried to reach out. "_I should've known what it was going to be like with him…the drunken bastard. Oops! Maybe that was too harsh! He isn't entirely a bastard…and he isn't drunk…yet…maybe just a…boorish oaf? No, no, that was still too mean…what can I call him?"_

* * *

><p>Well, the mission has begun! And its off to a shaky start with a Meister and Weapon attacking them for no really good reason. Speaking of which the weapon is an OC sent in by one of you reviewers. But since I have not formally introduced the OC (name-wise).<p>

1) My readers somehow decided to plan everything through and make it so both stories tied. I checked and double-checked. According to my rules...which I deleted when I put this chapter up, both chapters scored a 84 reviews. I have absolutely no idea on what to do, so I just post chapter 6 for both of them...for now. DON'T THINKYOU'VE WON, REVIEWERS!

2) I got three threats to continue Unsound Body and two bribes to continue Iron Hammer. Which is more important? I don't know. But it does say something about the fans of these two manga, doesn't it?


	7. Chapter 6 Pinnacle of Soul Control

**The Pinnacle of Soul Control!**

**A Quiet Night By The Campfire!**

Ash was crouched down closer to the lake. He was careful, trying not to get any sand on his pants. He was using Xander to brace himself against the ground as he tried to keep an open eye on the bushes. Any kind of clue that would give him a hint as to where their attackers were hiding. He still didn't anything. The fact that he couldn't see their souls was worrying him beyond belief.

"Hey! Ash!" shouted Xander, "What are we waiting for? Why don't we charge in and take the fight to him? All of this waiting is making me sick!"

"Have you ever heard the saying 'The meek will inherit the Earth'?" asked Ash.

"Yeah," said Xander, "I've heard of it. Why?"

"Do you know how they are going to do it?" asked Ash again, "its because people like you are going off and getting killed by doing stupid things like that."

"Look someone is coming out of the bushes!" shouted Xander.

"You weren't listening to me, were you?"

"Look!" shouted Xander.

One of Michael's arrow whizzed through the air, aimed straight at the man's head. The man looked over in that direction. He pulled the hood of his robe off of his head revealing his dark green hair. The arrow, a foot away from his body, suddenly lurched to the side burying itself in the sand a couple of feet behind the man.

He brought both of his arms up and above his head and stretched. "Boring."

Ash smiled, "looks like you are going to get your wish, Xander." Ash got up onto his feet and bolted off towards the man.

"Pop Quiz!" shouted the man, "If you are facing an opponent who is obviously stronger then you A) drive in recklessly, B) run away, or C) stand still."

Ash brought his arm back and fired a single punch aimed at the man's gut. The man leapt into the air avoiding the devastating blow. He spun around in the air, simultaneously bringing his leg around and into Ash's head. Ash tumbled to the ground.

"Sorry," said the man as he landed back safely onto the ground, "but A is not the correct answer." He dashed off towards Melody and Shi. "Neither is C." He brought both of his palms into Melody's gut and tossed her. Melody went flying through the air. Thankfully, she landed on the soft sand and the damage from the fall was minimized.

"Crap," said Melody, "I wasn't expecting him to be this fast. I thought Michael's arrow would've nailed him." She looked over at Michael, who from the look on his face, was thinking the same thing. He pulled back on his bow's string and prepared another arrow.

The man leaned back and chuckled. "That won't work against me. You see, I've created and perfected a new way to utilize my Soul Wavelength. If you makes you feel any better you can take another shot at me." Michael didn't pass the opportunity up, he fired another air. It got close to the man, but once again about a foot away it veered and slammed into the sand.

"You see," said the man, "most people use their Soul Wavelengths by pumping large amounts of it into their opponents. I, on the other hand, use it by simultaneously pumping small amounts of it out of my body at various and numerous points. This creates a sort of shell around my body composed of my Soul Wavelength. It's the pinnacle of soul control. Any soul based attacked aimed at me is immediately either deflected due to conflicting soul wavelengths or absorbed due to similar soul wavelengths."

"Here's a pop quiz for you," said Melody as she brought Shi around. Shi's long lengthy rope wrapped around the man's leg tying him to the spot, "when you are fighting with me as your opponent do you A) stand around and talk or B) get your butt whooped?"

"The correct answer is C," said the man as he bent down and grabbed a hold of Shi's yo-yo form, "I hurt you immensely." There was small spark of energy as his hand came in contact with Shi's body. That small spark traveled all the way Shi's thin string and right into Melody's hand. Melody screamed and immediately dropped Shi.

"Melody," shouted Shi, "what's wrong?" A look of concern was on its face on the reflection of the yo-yo.

"I shot my Soul Wavelength into her body using you as a medium," said the man, "I used you as a weapon to harm your own partner. But now I am down with you." His leg suddenly started to spark again. All of a sudden, Shi was blown out of his weapon form and it skidded across the sand in his normal human form.

"Once again," said the man, "a failure of epic proportions. You've failed two pop quiz's in a row. Perhaps, it is time for some academic punishment." He brought his hand all the way back and more sparks began to fly from it. He was just about to bring it down when Ash made another swing with Xander. The man ducked to the side and rolled away.

"It looks like you failed basic combat," said Ash, "never, ever turn your back on your opponents."

The man reached back and grabbed a hold of his hood, which due to Ash's latest attack was cut in two. "I'm actually quite hurt by what you did to my hood. I got it while it was on sale, but I still paid at least 10 dollars getting it."

"You are acting like it was actually cool," said Xander, "it made you look like an old man about to use the bathroom."

The man chuckled, "it did, did it? Well, I guess its off with it then. I don't want the new kids to think I'm not hip now, do I?" He threw his robe off revealing his trim figure. His upper body was covered by a muscle shirt and jeans covered his lower half. He quickly reached out and grabbed Ash. His left hand held him firmly by his head, while his right was wrapped around Xander. "Now, let me just show you how 'hip' I can be."

"Stop it," shouted a young woman as she emerged from the bushes. "Saul! You unhand that boy right now. You…you…you swine!"

Saul looked over at her and then back down at Xander and he released him. "Of course! After all, I'm not too into manhandling little boys."

"You could've fooled me," said Xander in a low mutter.

"See, Michael only old people say swine," said May as Michael quickly ran up next to Melody and Shi. Michael sighed. May generally brought old comments like that up.

"Saul, let's just forget about testing these guys and move on to the mission," said the woman, "we've already lost enough time as it is."

"You gotta stop babying people, Rochelle," said Saul. "These people are man enough to handle a couple of Soul Wavelengths, am I right? Or am I right?"

"Whether you are right or not gives you no excuse to do things like that!" shouted the woman, "You've got to calm down and give people an actual fighting chance."

"Oh, sure," said Saul as he brought his arms up, "I'm sure someone like you would say that! I'm just doing my job! And I got a freakin' Death Scythe breathing down my back!"

"Death Scythe?" asked Ash, "are you two…are you two the people we are supposed to team up with to complete the mission? The Prison Jar mission?"

"Yes," said Rochelle with a sweet smile on her face, "we are here because we want to help you!"

"She is," said Saul, "I'm getting paid."

"Oh, come on," said Rochelle, "look at these kids! You can't honestly say you don't want to help them in the slightest, can you?"

"Let's see," said Saul, "I don't want to help them in the slightest…what do you know? I can honestly say it!"

"Stop acting like a little kid!" shouted Rochelle.

"Stop acting like my mother!"

"Are you two dating or something?" asked Xander.

"Huh?" said Rochelle, "me and him? No. We are not dating, we are just partners for this one mission."

"Besides," said Saul, "she doesn't swing that."

Rochelle's face turned beet red. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying you switched teams…you went from hot dogs to melons…puppy dog tails to everything nice," said Saul, "stop me when you get the picture."

"I have not!" shouted Rochelle, "I just can't find the right guy."

"That's because you are too busy looking in the woman's locker room," said Saul.

"Let's just drop it and attend to the children's medical needs," said Rochelle as she turned away from him and dropped down to check on Shi and Melody.

"See," said Saul, "a real woman wouldn't let a man win an argument like that. She would've kept fighting until the man apologized."

"I don't think a real man would've brought up that conversation to begin with, right May?" said Michael defending Rochelle. His partner remained silently though. The previous fight still playing around in her head. He should've guessed. May's not a big fan of losing.

"I don't think we can make it to the Prison Jar today," said Rochelle as she leaned back onto the sand. "Saul overdid. These kids are going to need a good night's rest. If we try to carry them and keep moving, we'll probably just get killed by the witches."

"I say we leave them," said Xander, "its what they would want us to do."

Michael scoffed, "yeah, what did Shi again? I think it was something like 'Leave him. Leave him to die an honorable soldier's death!' I say we follow Shi's own advice."

"I agree," said Saul, "that's three for leaving them."

"THIS IS NOT UP FOR DISCUSSION!" shouted Rochelle.

"I say we leave her, too," said Saul.

(-Later that night-)

The gang had quickly created campfire to start off camp with. Guard duties were quickly assigned. Michael and May would watch for the first two hours, then Saul for three hours, then Rochelle for three hours, and Ash and Xander would be up for the last two hours. Giving the kids a total of eight hours while Saul and Rochelle each got seven.

Michael was diligently keeping an eye on the fire. May had been dozing off nearly all night. She said it was because she was used to twelve hours of beauty sleep, instead of eight. Apparently that was lunacy from where she came from, but Michael didn't care. It just gave him more time to appreciate the peace and quiet. Or at least it would, if it wasn't for the fact that May kept waking up every couple of minutes, sweating.

This was probably the eighth time she woke up. She was dressed in a black nightie, but she had an oversized coat with it to protect her from the cold. She also had on a pair of fuzzy slippers. Normally, she would have on a black night mask, but she refused to put it on until their watch was done.

"Any problems," asked Michael. He was dressed in a pair of gray sweats and a white T-shirt. Nothing more, nothing less. He asked that question despite the fact that he already knew what her response was going to be.

"No," said May. Michael called it.

"Don't forget. I'm your partner," said Michael, "if anything's wrong with you, I'm here to help you."

"Nothing's wrong," said May as she turned her head away in a pretend fit of anger, "I'm just upset that I don't have my bed or my cotton sheets with a hundred thread count. I don't have my make-up table for when I get up in the morning nor do I have my alarm clock or anything like that."

"Not to mention that Shi or Xander might grope you in your sleep," said Michael with a small chuckle.

"THANKS A LOT!" she said as she took her shoe off and chucked it at him.

"Hey," said Michael, "I'm being punished too. Now I have that image in my head." He tossed her shoe back to her. "Just try not to look hot in your sleep."

"Have you seen my body?" asked May standing up and performing a turn, "I always look hot."

"Sure," said Michael as he looked away, "now what was your nightmare about?"

"I don't remember," said May lying. "But I'm sure my next one will about Shi!"

"I'll be sure to tell Shi that you've been dreaming about her."

"Her?" said May, "I thought she was he from the way he was always groping Melody."

"I don't know what Shi is," said Michael, "I just know no self-respecting guy would have hair like that and dress like that."

"So, as a result Shi is a lesbian?"

"Whatever helps me sleep at night."

"Our watch is almost up."

(-With Saul of his watch-)

Saul was laying on the ground. Sound asleep. He didn't bother to keep a lookout for the witches, it would just be a waste of his time to. He'd just catch a couple of extra Z's before sunrise, be well-rested and whatnot.

(-With Rochelle on her watch-)

"Stupid Saul," murmured Rochelle as she prodded the fire. She found him sound asleep laying on the forest floor. "I don't know why I was paired up with him for this mission. I would've preferred almost anyone else! Anyone! Calling me a lesbian…talking about leaving those injured kids…what a…an…a…pig!"

"Maybe that was too mean for Saul…maybe it was too mean to the pigs…"

(-With Ash and Xander on their watch-)

Xander was stretched all the way on his back. The thought of possibly sneaking into May or Melody's tent was dancing around in his head. Maybe a quick peak? No, Ash would tell. He was sitting a couple of feet away on an extremely large pillow.

"Why do you have that ridiculous pillow?" asked Xander. He was dressed in just his underwear. Some boxers and a muscle shirt.

"Excuse me for not wanting to get my pants dirty by sitting on some old log or on the dirt," said Ash. He was dressed from head-to-toe in light blue pajamas with yellow ducks all over them.

"Okay…that explains the pillow," said Xander, "but why does it have pink lace?"

"It's the only one I had at home that clean enough to bring with me," said Ash, "all my other ones are in the wash. Bad luck."

"Okay," said Xander, "tell me again why you bought those pajamas."

"I didn't," whined Ash, "um…my…my mother bought them for me when…um…I came out to Death City. She didn't want me to wear something that she didn't approve…so, um…I have to wear these."

"Suuuurrrrreeeee," said Xander, "and you swear you are not gay."

"Hey!" shouted Ash, "you were the one that when we met…"

"DO NOT BRING THAT INCIDENT UP EVER!" shouted Xander. "You are too carry that incident with you to your grave. And if you ever tell anyone about how we became partners I will make sure you go to your grave a lot sooner then you'd like."

"Eep!" shrieked Ash as he buried himself into his pillow, "fine. Fine, I'll never tell anyone about how we met."

"Good," said Xander, "I still have nightmares about it."

* * *

><p>A quiet night before the chaos of hunting down the Prison Jar. Some good laughs with Saul and Rochelle (not permanent partners). Rochelle Richochet is the work of Outstanding Anime. Also for those of you who were kind enough to submit teachers thank you. But...why do all of them have to be weapons? Meisters are cool, too.<p>

The 'contest' is no longer continuing so for those of you who do not want to review any more…you don't have to (it is still appreciated though!) No, now, both stories will continue until…I think it was September 3rd that I planned on (cause after that Summer vacation is over). Then…something will happen…maybe…I don't know I REALLY wasn't planning on these two stories both getting the same amount reviews.

Other then that have fun imagining how Ash and Xander met!


	8. Chapter 7 Assault on the Ancient Temple

**Assault on the Ancient Temple!**

**Divide and Conquer**

"Aya!" shouted Melody as she woke up and search around the tent. Rochelle, May, and Ash all quickly came running in.

"What's the matter?" asked May as she immediately searched the room trying to find the problem.

"Shi is in the tent with me!"

"Thanks," said Shi as he rubbed his eyes clean, "I wasn't bothering you or nothing."

"Isn't he…she your partner?" asked May.

"Yeah!" said Melody, "but that doesn't mean we should sleep in the same tent!"

"Don't you guys say a house back home?" asked Rochelle.

"Yeah! A house!" said Melody, "with me upstairs and Shi downstairs. With about three locked doors between us."

"Huh, three locked doors?" asked Ash, "isn't that a little drastic?"

"When we first moved in together there was six," said Shi, "ooh, and Melody slept with a baseball bat under her bed. I got whacked a couple of times with it."

"SIX!" shouted Ash taken back. He and Xander definitely weren't the best of friends, but he would never put six locked doors in between them. It was just a huge number to be separated from your meister or weapon in case of an emergency.

"Well," said Rochelle, "now we know. From now on Melody and May can sleep together and Michael and Shi can sleep together."

"Melody and May," said Shi imagining the two of them together in the same tent. "I think it'd be better if I slept with those two. You know as a sort of body guard."

"Somehow I think you are more interested in the body then the guard part," said May, "but, yeah, I'm fine with that. Could be nice to have a change for once."

"I feel kind of bad for Michael, though," said Melody, "He's going to be stuck with Shi."

"HEY!" shouted Shi, "why is that a bad thing? I'm a great guy! Where is Michael, anyways?"

"Same place as Xander," said Ash, "they are patrolling the area around here. Neither of them could sit still long enough to wait for Melody and Shi to wake up. Saul, on the other hand, is probably still in his tent sleeping."

"He is really our best hope here?" asked May, "I can't believe we'd get stuck with such an incompetent loser."

"Who is Saul?" asked Melody.

"Oh, right," said May, "you were knocked out when that happened. Let me explain…" May went on to explain how they met Saul and Rochelle, decided to set up camp, and the rest of yesterday's activities.

"Great," said Melody sarcastically, "another person on this team who I'd rather not be with."

"Calm down," said Shi, "we are less then an hour's walk away from the Prison Jar now. It's almost within our reach." Just then both Michael and Xander burst into the tent panting.

"Witches!" shouted Xander panting heavily, "they are…flying…due north…there's about…

"There's about thirteen of them," said Michael calmly, "we've got to move out now if we want to get to the Prison Jar first."

"Why aren't…you tired?" asked Xander.

"No body, no fatigue," said Michael, "May, come on. We'll go on ahead, wake-up Saul, and forget about packing up the camp." May's body disappeared into a similar green color and morphed into Michael's hand in the shape of a bow. Michael twisted out of the tent and back onto the earthy soil floor and was off.

Shi sat there pouting, "why did he just leave us? Come on, Melody let's go catch up to them!"

"Wait!" shouted Melody, "I think…I think it would be better if me and Miss Rochelle went after them."

"What!" shouted Shi, "its not my fault we slept together in the same tent. I think I'm good enough to take down a witch! Besides! I WANT TO FIGHT A WITCH!"

"Its not that," said Melody, "its just that…the witches are flying. Micheal and May have the long ranged capabilities that allow them to shoot at them, me and you don't. Rochelle not only has longer range then, but she is also a Death Scythe, we need to put our strongest player into play as fast as possible." Rochelle nodded in agreement. Rochelle shifted into her large tan boomerang form. Melody grabbed a hold of it and dashed off and out the door.

"Have fun with Saul, Shi!" laughed Xander as he disappeared out of the door. Ash was waiting outside. Xander morphed into the arm blade and wrapped around Ash's hand. They were soon off as well.

Shi sat in the tent for a couple more seconds considering the possibilities. It shrugged. "I always had a thing for older guys."

(-at the temple-)

"Michael," said May with a slight shiver. The soul wavelength was extremely intense even this far away from the temple. "I think we better wait for back-up from Rochelle." Not to mention the fact that there was close to five people wandering around the temple.

Michael looked back at the temple. There was a large gathering of witches' souls in there. He could count five in there. They were gathered together sitting around and waiting near the center. At least it would be an easy guess as to where the Prison Jar was. "Yeah," said Michael as he sat down, "I think back-up would be the best idea." He kept his eyes trained on the souls. He ran the colors through his head, their sizes, everything about them. There was a soul with a twisted expression written over it, a grey one, a purple one with a black wing, a green one, and…one of them was gone. "Crap." He felt relieved and annoyed. Now there was only four of them, but the fifth one was gone. Why?

"Let's go!" shouted Melody as she bust out from the bushes behind Michael and down the cliff side charging towards the temple "Go Rochelle!" Melody twisted her body around and sent Rochelle spiraling through the skies and at the temple. The large tan boomerang slammed into one of the people standing guard. The person was sent to the ground sprawling.

"Looks like our back-up has arrived," said May. Michael nodded in agreement as he brought her up and into the air. He pulled the bowstring back and fired a quick round at another person. The person winced as the arrow slammed into her body. Michael stood up and began trudging down the cliff side.

"Hey, Michael," said May, "I don't think that that witch is dead. You missed all of her vital points."

"I know," said Michael, "she's not witch. She's more like a brain-controlled human. Witches probably put a spell on her or the strong Soul Wavelength here might've affected her mind and made her come here to stand guard."

Ash appeared next to him in an instant. "Let me and Ash have some fun, will you two?" said Xander with a chuckle. "We should be able to finish them off easily."

Ash jumped from his place and brought the side of his elbow around and into the person's head sending him twisting off of the ground only to come spiraling back into it and probably dislocating something, "Now is not the time for fun, Xander. We got witches to kill."

"You certainly seem braver this time then when we ran into a witch on our mission," said Xander, "What brought it on? Trying to impress Melody or May?"

"What? No!"

"Michael?"

"NO! I've told you, I'm straight!"

"For some reason I don't believe you, its probably the pajamas I saw you in last night."

"My mom bought me those for the last time!"

"Now is not the time to be fighting," said Michael as he strode past them and into the temple after Melody and Rochelle.

"He's right, Ash," said Xander, "stop getting side-tracked and go in after them."

"If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be getting side-tracked at all," complained Ash as he turned around and headed straight into the temple. As soon as he set foot in there he was faced with a dilemma. "Crap." The room had four separate hallways. One was, of course, the way he came.

"Pick a path," said Xander.

"I'm trying to," shouted Ash, "the freakin' Soul Wavelength oozing out of the Prison Jar is messing with my Soul Perception. I can't see anyone else's souls. Michael's, Melody's, the witches', all of them gone in a big blurry haze of an extreme soul."

"Let's be honest," said Xander, "we know Melody would probably ignore the fact that she couldn't sense the souls and charged straight in."

"Why's that?" asked Ash.

"She's holding a Death Scythe," said Xander. "When a weapon and meister are in contact with each other they share their soul's strength, right? Well, Melody just went from Shi to a Death Scythe. She's probably supercharged right now. She's a wind-up toy with a 1000 horsepower engine attached, she's not in her right of mind."

"Great," said Ash, "now I'm going to be worried that she'll do something stupid."

"Let's go left," said Xander. "If we run into Michael and May, we'll be considered lucky. If we run into just May, I'll be considered lucky."

"Shut up, Xander," said Ash. "Last time I followed your direction I got lost and attacked by a witch, remember? This time I'm going to do the exact opposite of what you say and go right." Ash turned around and headed down the right corridor.

"You know," started Xander, "some people created elaborate mazes in their temples to trick grave robbers. There were traps, beasts, hidden rooms, the whole deal. What if we were in one of those?"

"Xander," said Ash with a shake of his head, "you are describing Egyptian pyramids. Last time I checked, this wasn't Egypt and this wasn't a pyramid." Ash put a foot down onto the ground and felt the tile beneath his foot give way. The ground around him opened up. "I hate it when you are…" Ash screamed as he fell down in to the pitfall trap beneath him."

(-With May and Michael-)

"Wait Michael," said May, "I think someone just screamed."

"I think it was Melody," said Michael as he looked around another corner scanning the area, "it sounded like a girl. Besides, you really should keep it down here."

"Shouldn't we go back and check up on them?" asked May, "I mean, they could probably use our help, right?"

"We just avoided who know how many traps to get here," said Michael, "not to mention the fact that we don't even know which way they went. They could've gone straight or right at the turn." Michael pulled back on May's bowstring again and generated another arrow. He sent it whizzing through the air to check for any possible airborne traps or sensors. Nothing went off. Michael continued to trudge through the maze. "You'd think Lord Death would be nice enough to give us map on how to get through here, huh?"

May's reflection in the bow shrugged, "I think Lord Death just has an unusual amount of faith in us. I mean, we were sent here to hunt down the Prison Jar with only one Death Scythe here to help. I think he just believes in us."

"Or he wants us to fail," said Michael as he tapped the ground in front of him lightly with his foot.

"Hey, Lord Death has complete and total faith in us," said May.

"You mean Lord Death has faith in Shi, a perverted yo-yo, Ash, a clean freak, Xander, and Melody?" asked Michael, "Melody and Shi blew themselves up during their last mission, I got beheaded during ours, not to mention that Xander and Ash are just an unstable pair."

"Hey!" said May, "have a little faith in our teammates. In times like these you got to believe."

"No, in times like these you got to prepare for the worst," said Michael.

"Oh, really," said May, "Mr. Pessimistic, what is the worst?"

"The worst is that we make it to the Prison Jar, fight the four witches there, and lose," said Michael, "then we are taken hostage and experimented on with some kind of new black blood or something silly like that."

"Don't joke about stuff like that," shrieked May, " we can do and you know we can!"

A large huff of air could be heard straight in front of them. "Correction," said Michael, "the worst is that your shrieking set off a wild animal and we are killed by that." The narrow hallway was soon filled up with a gigantic boar. Its tusks were the size of swords and its hooves as big as pie plates.

"Yeah," said May, "I think we shouldn't waste time talking and shoot that beast!"

(-with Melody and Rochelle-)

"This is great," said Melody as she lifted Rochelle into the air, "that was what the second giant boar we killed today! This is what a Death Scythe feels like, huh? So much energy!"

"Yeah, well," said Rochelle with a smile, "we, Death Scythes are pretty awesome. But you are pretty good with a boomerang as a weapon! I didn't expect you to be this good already."

"I'm a quick learner," said Melody as she charged through the hallway. Another tile gave way under her foot. Small holes in the wall opened up and unleashed a quick blast of arrows from both sides. Melody twisted around and brought Rochelle in front of one of the walls. The arrows slammed into Rochelle's body and bounced off due to her weapon's density. Melody ducked down low and let the arrows graze by her head and body.

Once the arrows stopped, Melody stood back up. "Let's see," she said as she scanned the area, "the witches souls…are right ahead! I thought that the Prison Jar would be giving off interference and I wouldn't be able to see any souls at all, looks like I was wrong. Going straight was the right thing to do."

(-With Saul and Shi-)

Saul just walked into the temple and was confronted with the crossroads. Shi was in his yo-yo form hanging from Saul's left hand. "Pop Quiz! We are at the beginning of a temple. We are given three options A) Straight B) Left or C) Right. Which is the correct path to take?"

"C!" shouted Shi, "C is always the correct answer!"

"Wrong," said Saul, "we are going straight."

"What? Why?" asked Shi.

"Because," said Saul, "A is the correct answer."

"WHAT!" shouted Shi, "how do you know that A is the correct answer?"

"A hunch," said Saul.

"JUST A HUNCH!" shouted Shi, "DO YOU HAVE ANY REAL EVIDENCE?"

"Nope," said Saul, "just a hunch."

"I don't trust your hunch!" shouted Shi as its yo-yo form unraveled and jumped to another hallway. "I say we go right!"

"That's all the more reason we should go my way," said Saul, "you are going left."

"No, I am not!" shouted Shi, "I'm going right! Its your sense of direction that is messed up! This is clearly right."

"Listen, kid," said Saul, "the sun sets on the right and rises in the left. So, therefore since the sun was rising in the direction you are heading, you are going left."

"That's not true!" shouted Shi, "the sun rises in the West and sets in the East!"

"I know," said Saul, "I just didn't think that you knew. By the way you are wrong. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West."

"I AM RIGHT!" shouted Shi.

* * *

><p>Of course you are right Shi, you are always right. Problems seem to be abundant for a crew. A pitfall trap got Xander and Ash, a wild boar attacked Michael and May, Melody is currently on a...soul high I guess, and Shi and Saul seem to be in a bit of arugementative phase. Let's hope it all works out on the next chapter of Unsound Body!<p> 


	9. Chapter 8 Trouble is Brewing

**Trouble is Brewing!**

**The First Witch!**

"Crap!" shouted Michael as he leapt to the side of the boar barely avoiding another one of the beast's wild charges. The beast's incredibly large body shuddered past them and into a nearby wall. The wall crumpled as the beast roared through it. Michael quickly grabbed May's bowstring and pulled back, generating another Soul Arrow. He released it and let the arrow fly. The arrow buried itself deep into the beast's hide before it vanished. The monstrous boar let out a squeal and turned its body around and stared them down.

Michael fired a second shot with his bow. The silvery arrow glistened as it flew through the air and into the monster's tremendous back. It vanished soon after it hit is mark. The beast roared forward, its muscles firing on all engines. Michael jumped up and on top of the beast's massive body and wrapped his legs around the monster's neck. He brought his bow down and aimed carefully at the monster's head. He pulled the bowstring back once more and let the third arrow lodge itself straight into the monster's skull. The massive boar slammed into the ground and skidded a couple of inches before coming to a rest.

Michael paused for a second and then fired another arrow into the monster's skull, "just for insurance." He got up and walked away from the monster's body. He kept one eye trained carefully on the monster's large body to make sure that it was down, the last thing he wanted was to fight the beast again because he failed to kill it the first time around. After he was confident that it was down and was going to stay down he turned his head back around and continued down the path.

"That thing was huge," said May, "are all the animals in this temple like that?"

"Survival of the fittest, I'm guessing," said Michael, "most animals don't attack big animals so the bigger they are the more likely they are going to live."

"I want to make some kind of baby back rib reference right now," said May with another glance at the massive pig's body.

"There's nothing baby-like about that monster," said Michael as he continued down the path they had chosen.

"I know," said May, her reflection in the bow looking around at all of the ruins around them. "Its just a…figure of speech, I guess."

(-With Ash and Xander-)

Ash braced himself as they neared the bottom of the chute. They plummeted down and into a big pit filled with an incredibly large amount of mud and dirt. Ash grimaced as the sound of mud splashing and splattering against the walls echoed throughout the room. Ash quickly swam to the nearby ledge and pulled himself out of the mud, he laid on his back outstretched on the cool stone floor.

"Ash?" asked Xander. No response. "Ash, are you still with me?"

"Too much dirt…" said Ash as he sat up quickly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small mud-covered box. He quickly opened it and revealed the contents. It was a box of wet wipes. Ash quickly pulled them out one after another and used them to clean his face, arms, and his entire body in general.

Xander let loose a sigh, "really? A box of wet wipes? What is wrong with you?"

"Clean, clean, clean," said Ash as if it were some kind of mantra as he continued to use the wet wipes to wash his face clean of mud. He pulled his face away from the wet wipe as soon as he felt it was clean. He went back to cleaning his arms. Xander's arm blade form lit up and transformed back into his normal human form.

"I'm not just going to stand around here and wait for you to clean yourself like a cat," said Xander. "I'm going to check up ahead for any witches."

"Clean, clean, clean, CLEAN," said Ash once more as he began to frantically scrub away on his mud covered leg. Xander looked down and shook his head in pity for Ash before turning around and heading down the empty hallway.

Xander got halfway down the path when he froze. He quickly stretched his back straight out and pressed himself against the wall. He peered around the corner. There was someone else down here. The person looked like a little girl, probably no older then 13. She had raven hair. She had on a black tank top and short shorts, both of which were covered up by a black cloak with hood. Her shoes looked like those from a bad magic act, they were boots that curled up at the toes.

She lolled her head lazily from side-to-side, her disinterest in this project apparent. She chuckled softly to herself. "This is fun. So many people will perish once he is released again. His powers will bring the entire world to its heels…it will definitely be the end of the world as we know it. And guess who's gonna be at the top of the list? Me! Me, me, me, me, ME! All Iblis Raven, all the time."

"Hey, sorry about the wai…" began Ash as he was tackled to the ground by Xander. Xander quickly clasped his hand over Ash's mouth.

"Shh," whispered Xander. He leaned back and took another peek around the wall. The witch was walking back out the way she came. Xander picked Ash up. "There was a witch there." Xander said pointing down the hallway.

"Oh," said Ash, "I guess that means we know now which way not to go." Ash stood up, patted the dirt that had gotten on him off, and turned around. He began to head back down the hall away from the witch.

"Where are you going?" asked Xander, "that was a witch! She's probably heading back to the Prison Jar as we speak."

"But…she's a witch," said Ash, "she's going to back to Prison Jar where there will be other witchES! I don't want to fight witchES! I barely want to fight a witch!"

"Oh, come on," said Xander, "suck in your gut! We are men! It is our duty to go in there and fight so that the women we are with don't have to."

"Wow," said Ash, "let me get this straight we are supposed to protect a DEATH SCYTHE! The word DEATH is in their title for a reason! And its not because they serve Death!"

"Well," said Xander, "if you are scared about it and would rather be shown up by someone in heart-print panties and a skirt be my guess."

"I'm not scared and I'm not about to get shown up by…why did you say heart-print panties?" asked Ash.

"Let's not well on the details," said Xander with a short whistle, "let's just go up there and fight us a witch!"

"Xander! Why did you say heart-print panties?"

"Man, Ash, stop talking about panties! What are you? A pervert?"

"You are the one that started talking about panties!"

"There you go, you keep on talking about panties."

"I have to agree with your weapon, it is very, very rude to talk about women in such a way," said a third, feminine, and new voice.

Xander twisted around to look behind him, but he saw nothing. "What was that?"

"Xander," said Ash, "weapon form." Xander nodded as his body became covered in an eerie glow as his body shrunk up and grew around Ash's hand forming its normal bladed gauntlet style. "Got to tell you at this close range the Soul Wavelength emanating from the Prison Jar ain't doing much to hide yours."

"Now, why would I be hiding…" said the voice as a new body stepped into view, "from two weak little boys?" She grinned crazily at Xander and Ash, not caring to hide her malicious intent. She was the same one Xander had saw moments ago.

"Hey!" shouted Xander, "there's one weak little boy here and a powerfully awesome one!"

"Don't you think you could be a little bit more supportive of me!" shouted Ash.

"I'm only being honest," said Xander.

"Can't you be both!"

"When I'm talking about you? I don't think so," said Xander.

"Can we please stop with this playground squabbles and move on to the fun stuff, like your deaths?" said the girl.

"I would love to," said Ash, "but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you your name before we begin. I like to know the names of my opponents makes my fights all the more meaningful."

The girl smiled, "Its common courtesy to tell your name before asking someone else for theirs."

"You are right. I'm sorry.

"The name's Iblis Raven," said the girl, "I'm a witch, four-hundred years old, pretty active, my animal is…"

"Let me guess, a raven," said Xander.

"NO! I AM NOT A RAVEN!" she shouted, "It's a crow! A CROW NOT A RAVEN!"

"Sorry, miss," said Xander, " I just figured Iblis RAVEN means your animal would be a raven."

"Yeah, that's what everyone just assumes," said Iblis, "Raven is a raven! Raven is a raven! I'm used to it, just bow down and apologize to me!"

"No," said Xander.

"Didn't your parents teach you to obey your elders," said Iblis.

"Yeah, but my teachers taught me to kill to witches," said Xander.

"You certainly are a friendly one," said Iblis with a mocking tone, "perhaps after I'm done killing, I can take you home and hang you up on my wall like all the others I killed."

"I think that she thinks that we are deer," said Ash in hushed tone.

"Well, I am stag," said Xander, "you are kind of a doe."

"Doe is a female deer!" shouted Ash.

"Exactly why its perfect for you," said Xander continuing to mock Ash's effeminate features.

Iblis' eyes narrowed on the two. "Do you want me to leave you alone until this lover's quarrel is over?"

"We are not lovers!" shouted Ash and Xander simultaneously.

Iblis let out a high pitched chuckle, "I'm so sorry. Its just most of the time meisters and weapons get teamed up because they are either attracted to someone due to their personality or physically attracted to that person. And your personalities are kind of…fire and gas, I suppose the correct terminology would be."

"Well," said Ash, "its kind of funny story that you mentioned that…"

"SHUT UP!" barked Xander, "let's kill this witch! She insulted my manhood!"

"Don't you mean 'our' manhood," asked Ash.

"I'm not sure you have any really manhood to get upset about," said Xander, going back to mocking Ash.

"One of these days Xander!" shouted Ash, "one of these days!"

"I'm sorry," said Iblis as she approached them, "but this is going to be your last day on this planet…alive that is." A large whirlwind of black feathers began to spin around Iblis's body raising her body off of the ground and into the air.

"Xander," said Ash, "I'm going to let you go for now…but only because we are about to get to the hard part of the day. Let's go! Soul Resonance!" Xander's blade began to lengthen itself out and over becoming a much longer blade. It lost its slightly dull appearance and became sharp.

"Ready for some fun, Miss Raven?" asked Xander.

(-With Shi and Saul-)

"I'm still saying we should've turned right," said Shi. Shi was currently walking a couple of paces behind Saul, in its human form instead of weapon form.

"Children's toys do not get a say," said Saul.

"HEY!" shouted Shi, "yo-yo's were original designed as a weapon!"

"Funny," said Saul, "I wonder why they are no longer…That's right! Its because they suck!"

"Don't mock the powers of the yo-yo!" screamed Shi as it ran up in front of Saul and stood on its tiptoes and stared him down.

Saul struck out with his leg and sent Shi scrambling to the floor. "Do you mind? I told you to walk a couple of steps behind me. I don't want people to know I'm with you."

"Oh, yeah," said Shi as it stood up patted its knees clean of dirt and dust. Shi put its hands on its hips, "I think you would be lucky if we were together."

Saul took one look over his shoulder and examined Shi before returning his faze straight in front of him, "Eh."

"What was that!" shouted Shi as he ran back up next to Saul, "YOU DO NOT SAY 'EH' ABOUT ME!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Saul, "did I get the child's toy mad?"

"I AM A WEAPON!" shouted Shi.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," said Saul as he continued down the path. He took a look to his side and noticed a large boar laying on the ground. Its head and body battered and covered with bruises. It wasn't going to get up soon enough. He took a quick glance down at the ground. The dust that would normally be gathered in an isolated temple like this worn away. "Looks like I was right. Straight was the correct answer."

"What makes you say that?" asked Shi.

"One, because you said right," said Saul, "so, obviously right is the wrong answer. Two, I don't like left. And three, the beaten animals to our left and right. Someone had already been down this path." Shi twisted around and launched a powerful kick to Saul's abdomen. "What the hell was that for?"

"Sorry, the WEAPON is still mad at you," said Shi as it began to walk further ahead into the temple.

* * *

><p>Iblis Raven, the crow! (gNat2) She's a little psychopathic, sure, but she'll hopefully be fun to read. Especially with her messing around with Xander and Ash. Of course, Shi and Saul are still having fun. Michael and May are still proving around the temple. Sorry, about the lack of Melody and Rochelle, its harder to write as them then you would think.<p>

I apologize for the slightly late update. I was having technical difficulties. Hopefully those will all be cleared up from now on.


	10. Chapter 9 Fighting Witches 101

**Fighting Witches 101!**

**Ash and Xander's Soul Resonance Technique!**

Ash yelped as he dove for the ground avoiding another medley of feather-shaped daggers from Iblis. Iblis laughed from her spot high up in the room. She was floating on a bed of feathers with the strangest smile on her face. She had the look of a person who intended to kill her prey AFTER torturing them. And, boy, was she enjoying it.

Ash rolled over onto his side. He ran his fingers over Xander's sharp blade drawing blood. The blood quickly straightened itself out into small sticks on the blade.

"Using that technique already," said Xander with a chuckle.

"Its one of the few benefits of our Soul Resonance," said Ash. "Any of my blood that winds up on your blade becomes a weapon." He reached forward and tore one of them off of the blade. Ash chuckled as he quickly tossed the bloody dagger through the air and at his opponent. The small blood dagger never made it to Iblis. It got swept up in the storm of Iblis' own daggers and disappeared into it. Iblis laughed at the pathetic attempt.

"Maybe," said Iblis her voice rising in pitch, "maybe you might hit me once before I kill you. I always wondered what happened to the professionally meisters and weapons of the DWMA, but apparently they got replaced with the likes of you!"

Ash charged forward. He jumped up and aimed his heavy bladed gauntlet at Iblis. Iblis yawned and redirected an air blast propelling herself higher into the air above Ash's desperate charge. "Crap! I can't hit her," said Ash. "She can dodge any of my short distance attacks and any long distance attacks get redirected."

"Looks like someone is going to lose to a girl," said Xander.

"How can you mock me at a time like this?" said Ash, "if I lose then you lose too."

"I know," said Xander, "but its funny to mock you."

"Instead of mocking me, maybe you can help me figure out a way to beat this girl," said Ash.

"Fine, let's do things your way," said Xander. Ash nodded and dashed forward again, trying to get in close.

Iblis laughed, "you boys are just like kitties!" She quickly whisked her fingers in one direction creating another blast of wind that sailed into Ash knocking him over to his side and across the ground. He cursed as he hit the ground hard. "How cute you guys are as you try to catch that pathetic speck of light that you can't hit no matter how hard you try!"

"We'll hit it eventually," said Xander. Ash grabbed another two of the blood daggers that were extended from his gauntlet. He tossed them. The two daggers were both flying on their mark, but the storm around Iblis Raven proved to be to much. They were both sent off course and both of them sailed into the wall to her side.

"Ordinarily, I would be opposed to violence against women," said Ash, "but I think I'll make a special exception to witches."

"Oh, what, bravado," said Iblis, faking a swoon. "I'm almost like putty in your hand…if only we weren't on opposite sides, then maybe…just maybe our love could blossom. Oh, wait…no it won't. I don't like girly boys, sorry!"

Xander burst out into a laugh, "even she's got you nailed. I think you need to admit it, Ash! Everyone thinks you are a girly boy."

Ash's eye twitched. "STOP SAYING THAT!"

"Or what?"

"Or I'll…I'll…" began Ash trying to think of a decent threat.

"You can't leave me here, because then you'd get killed," said Xander. "Let's just focus on taking out the witch and then we can get back onto the subject of how effeminate you are. Ducky pajamas."

Ash growled at Xander. "Please…don't bring…that subject…up again." He grabbed the last blood dagger on Xander's body and tossed it at Iblis.

Iblis flinched. She didn't create a strong enough wind fast enough and the bloody needle came flying by and it scored a scratch on her left cheek. She touched gently at first, but then the gentle touch quickly became a panicky touch. "I've been wounded! Mother! Your great daughter has been wounded! I may…I may just see you soon! Please save a spot for me at your side…NOT! I'm perfectly fine!"

"This girl is starting to annoy me more then you," said Ash.

"I didn't know that was possible," said Xander.

Ash leapt up from his spot on the ground and into the air. He spun around and made another punch at Iblis with his bladed gauntlet. Iblis laughed as she was carried further into the air by another strong gust of wind. Ash landed on the ground perfectly. He looked back up at his opponent. She was dodging or redirecting every single one of their attacks. He hadn't been able to land a single blow. He'd have to think of someway to defeat her. But in order to do that, he'd need more daggers.

Ash ran his hand over Xander's blade once more, drawing blood again. Small bloody dagger appeared on the blade and extended from it forming another four sharp blood daggers.

"How are you holding up?" asked Xander. "I mean you already used four daggers. I don't think you should keep exhausting your blood like this."

Ash reached over and grabbed one of the blood daggers and broke them off. He held it in his hand for a couple of seconds, "I can do it, don't worry about me!"

"Just remember you can't lose too much blood," said Xander, "These daggers use quite a bit. Normally we can only pull out a little bit over ten."

"And I'm only at eight," said Ash, "like you always say 'I can handle it'!"

"Well that's me!" shouted Xander, "You can't!"

"HEEELLLLOOOOO," shouted Iblis from her spot in the air, "did you forget about me? The witch trying to killing you!"

"Sorry," said Xander, "Ash may be a pathetic overly feminine and weak boy, but he's still better then you."

Iblis' face quickly became annoyed, "Oh…really!" She snapped her fingers together. Another strong gust of winds was generated in the small room. Dozens of black feather-like daggers filled the air. "I will prove you wrong only you won't be around to see it! Why? Because you'll be buried six-feet under! You'd have kicked the bucket! You'll be out of here! Gone like the wind! Deceased and desisted!"

"Yeah, right," said Ash as he pulled off a second blood dagger from Xander's arm blade, "Xander's not the type of guy to lose to you. He'll never live it down if he loses to a woman."

"_Whoa," _thought Iblis as her powers gave way slightly beneath her feet, "_Crap! I used up too much power already! I put too much of my magic into the Prison Jar! I remember them saying it'll drain you a little, but this…this is more then a little. My powers are less then a quarter of what they used to be."_

Ash dashed forward with his bladed gauntlet at the ready. Ash launched himself at the floating Iblis. Iblis' powers completely gave way underneath her sending her falling back down to the ground. Ash soared above her with his gauntlet fully extended. Ash spun around and brought a small blood dagger out and tossed it, aiming directly between Iblis' eyes. A small, but strong wind drifted upwards blowing it a safe distance away from Iblis.

Iblis backed up. Her legs weakening beneath her. She wasn't used to having such a large drain on her body. She could still feel some of her energy leaking out of her. Ash wasn't letting her have a break though. Her leapt from his location with both speed and force sending his large bladed gauntlet straight at her. She didn't have enough time to dodge, nor did she have enough energy to divert the attack. Ash drove his blade straight into Iblis's stomach.

"What do you know?" said Xander as Ash pulled him out of Iblis' wound, "I really didn't think you would have it in you, Ash. I'm impressed."

"Didn't you just say I'm better then her?" asked Ash.

"I was just trying to be supportive, not truthful, but supportive," said Xander.

"Shut up," said Ash.

"I agree," said Iblis as she backed away, her hand on her open wound. The wind started to pick-up again, swirling around them. Small black feather-like daggers began to join the whirlwind. "I think you both should really SHUT UP!" The daggers all simultaneously began to tear through the air each of them aimed squarely at Ash. Ash was thrown backwards with the force of the wind and numerous small daggers drove themselves into Ash. He slammed heavily into the ground causing a large cloud of dust to emerge.

Iblis chuckled. "Don't even think about using the dust cloud to hide yourselves!" She snapped her fingers together. Another strong gust of wind tore through the room dragging the dust out of the room and down the hall. Ash was revealed laying on the ground, huffing and puffing, he was using one of his arms to brace himself.

Ash looked down at his bladed gauntlet. The three blood daggers he had been leaving on there for another strike had been blown off with the wind. "Crap." Ash stumbled up to his feet. "I guess we gotta go for another round." Ash dragged his hand over Xander's blade drawing more blood and creating more blood daggers.

"Ash!" shouted Xander, "I don't think you know what you are doing!"

"Relax," said Ash as he shook his hand in the air, "I figured it all out." He broke all four of the small daggers off and grasped them in one hand, between his fingers. "This will be the end of the fight!"

"It will be! Too bad it will be ending with your death!" shouted Iblis as she raised her hand. She generated another blast of pure wind. The gust blew through the room and rammed straight into Ash knocking him off of his feet and through the air. Ash collided with the wall once more. He was being pinned against the wall through sheer hurricane-like strength. "Any last…" began Iblis as the strong winds started to slowly die out into a pathetic wind, "…words?"

"I don't need any last words," said Ash, "not for awhile!" Ash dashed forward and tossed all four of the needles simultaneously. Iblis dove to the side allowing all of the daggers to fly to her side, one of them nicking her ridiculous shoe. Ash was upon her in an instant. He brought his gauntlet straight down at her chest.

(-With Melody and Rochelle-)

"Um…this is a dead end," said Rochelle as the duo neared a wall.

"I don't get it!" shouted Melody, "how are we at a dead end? The witches are beyond this wall I'm sure of it!" Melody ran up to the wall and launched a kick at it. She immediately jumped back with a sharp yelp grabbing her leg.

"I guess we are just lost," said Rochelle, "let's turn around and try to find another way around it. Trying to go straight will get us nowhere."

"I'm sure if Shi was here he'd encourage me to break the wall down," said Melody with a slight pout as she eyed the imposing wall in front of her. "If he was here, he'd help me."

"Melody," said Rochelle as the boomerang lit up and she transformed into her human self, "I think you are over thinking this. This is a wall!" She pounded on the wall. "I hate to be the one to tell you this, but walls are made to be in the way." She pounded on the walls a couple more times. "Its supposed to keep us out. We are either going to have to find a door or find a way around. Let's not waste our time trying to bust it dooowwwwnnnn!" A small platform beneath Rochelle opened up and Rochelle disappeared into it.

"I think we just found ourselves a door," said Melody with a smirk, "a trapdoor, but a door nonetheless!" Melody jumped into the air and down the hole.

Rochelle landed in a completely different room. The room was large and imposing. The fact that there was no windows or visible doors was actually the least threatening thing about the room. The room had about fifty or so clay soldiers stashed down there all of them dressed in real armor and carrying real weapons. Melody soon slid down into the room, too.

"Wow!" shouted Melody as she looked around the room, "so many clay soldiers. This is amazing! I bet the witches don't even know about this room." She wandered around a bit more. "I mean it smells down here, but the looks of the room makes up for it."

Rochelle was quivering in her boots where she stood, "do you know what that smell is?"

Melody took another whiff of the air and shrugged, "I don't know. I don't really bother to remember the smell of the things. I live with Shi…there's a lot of smells that come with him."

"It smells like blood," said Rochelle.

* * *

><p>Ash and Xander's second fight with a witch goes better then they planned, even if the witch was really weakened due to the stress of the Prison Jar. Not to mention couldn't focus due to Ash and Xander's constant fighting. Then there is Rochelle's and Melody's shocking discovery. A room full of clay soldiers that smell like blood.<p>

Also, I made some edits to the character submission form. I edited the main rules # 11 and 13, I added Soul Resonance to the Meister and Weapon sections, and I also added Special Abilities and Ally/Enemy to the Witches' section. If you have already submitted a character to my story you don't have to worry about editing your characters, but if you want to it would be a huge help. That is all.


	11. Chapter 10 The Hundred Clay Soldiers

**The Hundred Clay Soldiers!**

**The Second and Third Witches!**

"There's so many of them," said Melody as she touched one of the clay soldiers' arms. "Its freaky how life-like they are."

"Let's just leave," said Rochelle as she gripped her sides. "I feel like one of them is about to come alive and attack us." She got up close enough to one to look it in the eyes. "Besides they all look…the same."

Melody backed up and looked around at the statues. "I have to disagree with you on that. See this one has samurai armor and a katana, that one has thinner and a kanabo, and the all the way over there doesn't even have a weapon."

"I don't know," said Rochelle, "they just have so many similarities."

Melody was just about to speak up when a loud and piercing scream pierced the air. The two of them looked behind them just in time to see someone fall straight to the ground. Its butt high up in the air. "That damn Saul," said the person.

"Shi?" shouted Melody as she looked at her disgruntled partner lying on the ground. She dashed over to her partner.

Shi piqued its head up and stood up. Shi briefly embraced Melody in a hug. "Its been so long since I saw that cute butt of yours!" shouted Shi quickly grasping Melody's rear end in a surprise attack. Melody shoved Shi off of her and then slammed her fist into Shi's forehead.

"I thought we talked about how you should stop grabbing my butt!" shouted Melody.

"We did," said Shi, "but I decided that your butt was probably so lonely since I haven't grabbed it at all in the past couple hours…unless someone else was grabbing it?" Before Melody could rebut Shi's accusations, another person fell to the ground, he landed squarely on Shi.

"Thanks for breaking my fall, partner," said Saul as he stopped lightly off of Shi.

"I'm going to kill!" shouted Shi, "I was just looking for a secret lever that would move the wall in front of us away and then you push me down a hole!"

"Here's your lesson for the day. Secret levers that move walls are only in TV shows," said Saul, "there's no such thing in reality."

"That's not true!" shouted Shi, "secret levers are just as real as dragons, fairies, and unicorns!"

"No," said Saul as he looked around them, "while fairies and dragons may be real, unicorns and secret levers are just a hoax created by TV to help sell shows and products."

"That's not true!" shouted Shi, "me and Melody saw a unicorn on one of our adventures! Isn't that right, Melody?"

"Don't involve me in this," said Melody in a low and hushed voice.

"Unicorns are like all the other popular myths like the Loch Ness monster or vampires," said Saul, "and don't even get me started on Bigfoot."

"BIGFOOT DOES EXIST!" shouted Shi jumping up and down in place. "Whoa!" Shi suddenly lost its balance and fell backwards, smashing into the clay soldier directly behind it. That soldiers tipped backwards and into the one behind it. Then that one fell into one behind it. Soon there was a domino-like reaction destroying all of the clay statues in a neat row.

"Bigfoot does not exist," said Saul, exasperated. "Next thing you know you are probably gonna start defending the Giant Squid." Only Melody and Rochelle were really paying attention to the destruction of one clay statue after another.

"GIANT SQUIDS FOR LIFE!" shouted Shi even louder ignoring his catastrophic damage.

"Uh…guys," said Melody as she tried to tear her vision away from the fallen statues, but couldn't. "Don't you think you should look at the damage you caused."

"Or what your damage unveiled," asked Rochelle eyeing one of the broken soldier's arms where the clay had been chipped off.

"I know the routine," said Shi, "if I break it I bought. But let's face it, this stuff has to be a couple of millennia old. It can't be too expensive."

"Wrong," said Saul, "things get better with age. Take me and you for example. I'm older then you and therefore I am much better then you."

"I have two legs that would love to differ!" shouted Shi as it brought its leg up into the air and waved it at Saul.

"SHUT UP AND LOOK AT THE DAMN DAMAGES!" shouted Melody with a loud voice.

"Ooooh, you said 'damn'. You have to put a dime in the swear jar," said Shi.

"JUST LOOK AT THE DAMAGES!"

"Is…that an arm?" asked Saul kneeling down touching the broken the clay soldier. Beneath the chipped arm was another flesh like arm. It had blood streaked all up and down it.

"That explains the smell," said Rochelle, eyeing it from a good distance, refusing to get any closer.

"Oh! Look at what you went ahead and done!" shouted an old man. The man was extremely old. In his eighties, possibly even nineties. He was mostly bald, with a few strands of white hair dotting his head. He was wrinkly and his hazel eyes were glazed over. He was dressed in a formal pure white suit with a pure white top hat laying in his lap. "Its going to take me another week to put that cover back on him." He was in a wheelchair that seemed to glide over to the pit where dozens of the destroyed clay soldiers laid.

"Who are you?" asked Melody motioning to Shi. Shi nodded. Its body lit up in a brilliant red flare and became a small yo-yo. The yo-yo wrapped around Melody's fingers preparing to strike or block on the next command.

"I'm Formosan," said the old man, "but my co-workers hate that name and have dubbed me, Foreman. I swear the young'uns have no respect for their elders."

"Well," said Shi, "some elders, like Saul, don't deserve respect."

"I suppose so," said Formosan, "But so many elders these days are treated so poorly…probably because of video games…or the internet. Damn that internet. Back in my day, when we wanted to learn something we had to get off of our lazy bums and go talk to a professional. But now you just google, yahoo, or bing everything. And I do mean quite literally everything."

"Yeah," said Melody as she distracted her gaze from the old man and looked away, "but even in your day you had the library."

"Library?" said Foreman as he waggled his finger at her, "how old do you think I AM?"

"Uh…ninety?" asked Melody with a confused tone.

"NINETY!" shouted Foreman, "I haven't been that young in such a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long TIME! Right now I'm close to celebrating my 1500th birthday…I think. The years have all started to blend together…let's see 1…2…3…" Foreman quietly began to count the years off on his fingertips.

"He's a witch," whispered Shi, "I say we get the drop on him now and finish him off."

"Agreed," said Melody. Her motion was as quick as lightning and as fluid as water. She quickly brought Shi up and around aiming him squarely at the old man's head. His head splattered into millions of pieces. Each one resembling the inside of a clay pot.

"That was EASY!" shouted Shi, "we just killed a witch! I am AWESOME! GO SHI! GO MELODY!"

"He's not dead, yet!" shouted Melody as her eyes started to scan the area around them.

One of the clay soldiers began to rattle as the clay began to flake off of its body, revealing the person beneath it. A young man about 30, a perfect head of brown hair. He was dressed in a militia uniform. Camouflage shirts, pants, and the like. His hazel eyes were glazed over. "Still you show your elders no respect. When we talk…" he said as he picked up the scimitar laying on the ground, "YOU SHOULD LISTEN!"

(-With May and Michael-)

"That giant boar really put us back," said Michael as he walked forward his hand guiding himself along the wall. "Not to mention…I have no idea where we are now." He tapped the wall. "I'm pretty sure this is the third time I saw that wall."

"I don't know," said May her reflection dashing from side to side, "I think all the walls look exactly the same. I guess we should just keep walking forward."

"Which way is forward and which way is back to the entrance?" asked Michael as he looked down the hallway one way and then back down the other way. "Cause I have absolutely no idea."

"Ummm…" said May as she looked up and down the corridor, "I think…maybe…that way."

"This is going to be fun tale to tell when we see the rest of our team," said Michael, "I can just hear Xander 'I took out three witches. How many did you guys fight? None! You were lost!' And ensue the laughter."

"Come on, Xander's not like that," said May, "he'll probably lie and say he took down eighteen."

"True enough," said Michael, "okay, for now though let's forget about them and start trying to find our way down this…do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked May cupping her hands around her ear.

"It sounds like a girl singing," said Michael as he brought May up to his shoulders and pulled the bowstring back allowing another arrow to take form in it.

"Yeah," said May, "we are in a temple in the middle of nowhere. Not to mention the witches that are present in the temple." Then out of nowhere a small and quiet voice began to rise throughout

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star!" sung a little girl as she skipped, in a hopscotch manner, through the temple, "how I wonder what you are! Up, above, the world so high! Like a diamond in the sky!"

Michael grimaced. "Really? Singing a song like that?" Michael lowered his bow to his waist, "In a place like this? I'm surprised the witches haven't killed her yet."

The girl soon appeared in view despite the dark and pretty terrible lighting inside the temple. Michael looked at her, she 5 feet exactly, but she still looked and sounded like a little girl. Maybe 9 or so? She had caramel skin with brown eyes hidden beneath her large lavender hair with several pink highlights. Michael noticed her thigh length violet dress with a white polka dot pattern and below that violet pants stretched out and into her knee-high black and white boots. On her head she wore a standard black witch hat that resembles her animal theme.

"Hey, Michael," whispered May under her voice, "is she a witch?" Her reflection motioning to the hat on her head.

"Can't tell," said Michael with a slightly weary look on his face, "I don't see any dead giveaways with her soul. Must be that Soul Protect thing we've heard about."

"Helloooo, Mr. Archer," said the girl in a sickeningly sweet voice, "what are you doing here?"

"Um…we are…looking for a jar, I guess," said Michael, not quite sure if he should lie or tell the truth around her. She seemed pretty harmless. In fact she seemed like she might actually be helpful to say the least.

"Oooh! I saw a jar once!" said the girl, "it was all flowery and it smelled like peaches and…and…AND it had flowers in it…"

"Really?" asked Michael as he began to severely doubt the girl's helpfulness in this case. "That's…uh…nice?"

"IT REALLY IS!" shouted the girl with a large smile on her face. "I'm Spectra!"

"The name's Michael," said Michael nodding his head. He began to walk forward deeper into the temple, even if it was just to get away from the girl.

"Mine is May," said May, still in her weapon form.

"Oh my god! A talking weapon! Spectra's heard of those from Spectra's parents! Spectra heard they were evil!" shouted Spectra pointing at May.

"They aren't evil," said Michael turning around and facing her, "me and my talking weapon help people."

"Spectra heard that talking weapons kill witches, like Spectra!" shouted the girl once more as she quickly back up a few more feet.

"So, you are a witch?" asked Michael as he sighed. "What are we supposed to do? It is basically our job to kill witches."

"WHAT?" shouted May, "you got to be kidding me! Just look at her! Our job is to kill evil witches! No little girl like her can possibly be evil. Let's just forget about her and keep looking for the Magic Tool."

"You are right," said Michael as he put his head in his hand, "let's just leave her be. Maybe she'll turn out to be a good witch." He turned around and faced Spectra, "see ya we are off to find the Magic Tool."

"Spectra knows of the Magic Tool!" shouted the little girl as she ran in front of Michael, "Spectra can show you the way to the Magic Tool."

"Really?" asked Michael, still not believing this girl knew anything of real importance to him. "How does a nine-year-old witch know where the Magic Tool is?"

"Spectra is THIRTEEN!" shouted Spectra, "whoa, cool it Spectra. Spectra almost lost it there for a second. So as Spectra was saying Spectra will show Michael and May to the Magic Tool!"

"Great," said May, "show us the way."

"…right into a trap," said Michael under his breath.

"Really Michael? Really?" shouted May, "you can't even trust a sweet, innocent little girl like this one?"

"Witch," said Michael, "I think you mean I can't even trust a witch like this one."

"She's still a girl," shouted May, "and she wants to show us to the Magic Tool."

"But Spectra has a condition," said Spectra with a high sing-song like voice.

"See," said Michael, "there's a catch. Probably will cost us our soul or something."

"Very funny," said May with an unimpressed tone, "but the least we can do is give the girl a chance. Who knows maybe she just wants us to take her out for ice cream when we are done?"

"Spectra just wants to play a game," said Spectra with a huge cheerful smile on her face.

* * *

><p>Buh…buh…buh! The most menacing challenge the Soul Eater crew has ever had to face. Playing a game with a little girl named Spectra, who by the way in case you already didn't know is another OC submitted by my faithful reviewers…er…at least most of them are faithful. And that reviewer is WallaWallaBingBang.<p>

Also for those of you who are wondering Formosan is my own character. And if you are interested, Formosan is the name/part of a name of an actual insect. So get your dictionaries (yes, DICTIONARIES DO EXIST!) and look around for what insect he was inspired by!


	12. Chapter 11 TAG

**TAG!**

**You're it!**

"A game?" asked Michael as he looked away, "I don't know about this. There's probably some kind of trick involved."

"Spectra likes magic tricks, too!" shouted Spectra, her big goofy smile growing.

"That's not what he meant," said May. "Come on Michael. Let's just play the game. We don't know which way to go, besides we are playing against a little girl how could we lose?"

"Fine," said Michael with a shrug, "looks like you win, Spectra, we'll play a game with you."

"YEAH!" she shouted clapping her hands together with glee, "let's play tag!"

"Tag?" asked Michael stifling a laugh, "I haven't played tag since I was six."

"Shut up, Michael," said May, "let's just do what the sweetie wants. Anything to help us accomplish our goal."

"Okay! Okay! Okay!" shouted Spectra cheerfully, "Talking weapon and weird-looking guy are it! Catch Spectra if you can!" With Spectra began to run down the corridor at a decent pace.

"Weird-looking guy?" asked Michael as he lifted the bow up and pulled back on the string, "I wonder if an arrow to the head counts as catching her."

"MICHAEL!" shouted May, "we got to play this thing her way or else she might not tell us the location of the Prison Jar."

"Fine," grunted Michael as he lowered the bow, "but if we lose, I'm blaming you." Michael took off at top speeds down the hallway after Spectra. Spectra was giggling and laughing all the way. Spectra made a quick turn to the left, so Michael made an even quicker turn to the left. "This is easy."

Spectra giggled as she twisted her head around and stuck her tongue out at them, unaware of the dead end looming in front of her.

"Spectra look out!" shouted May her reflection reaching out for the little girl. Spectra didn't stop. She went right into the wall…and kept going. She soon disappeared all the way through the wall.

"Oh, I see," said Michael, "some of the walls here must be illusions from the witches to make sure we can't get to the Prison Jar. Clever." Michael ran smack-dab into the wall and stopped, he fell backwards onto the ground. "CRAP!" Michael turned around, stood back up, and he began pounding on the wall. "Its real! The wall is freakin' real!"

"I guess Spectra must be able to run through walls or something," said May, "and my partner is stupid enough to believe that the walls aren't real."

"I guessed," said Michael, "it was 50/50 shot and I guessed wrong." Michael turned around and began running back the way they came, "and we've just wasted some time trying to play a game with her when we should've been finding our way to the Prison Jar…" Michael slowed down to a stop. In front of him was Spectra waving her hand with her tongue sticking out at them.

"You guys can't catch Spectra. Spectra too good for you," shouted the little girl, "Spectra is the best!"

"Oh, yeah," said Michael with a smirk, "let's see which one of us is the best now!" He took off running for Spectra once again. Spectra squealed with delight as she turned around and began running again away from him. Michael pulled May around and pulled back on the bowstring once more, generating an arrow.

"MICHAEL!" shouted May, "you can't be serious!"

"Don't worry I'm going to miss. I just want to slow her down," said Michael as he released the string sending the arrow flying at Spectra. The arrow landed right next to Spectra, she ignored the arrow and kept running forward.

"I don't think your plan worked," said May.

"You're not having any bright ideas either," said Michael as he followed Spectra around another corner, "as a matter of fact it was your bright idea that got us into this mess or did you forget?"

May's reflection blushed slightly embarrassment, "That doesn't matter. We just got to catch her for now, so let's do it."

Michael skidded to a stop as Spectra disappeared into a wall again. Her laughter still echoing throughout the halls. "Yeah, how do you suggest we do it?"

"I have no idea," said May looking at the wall, "maybe we should just forfeit the match. She may give us the information we need then."

Spectra's head appeared on the wall. She used her finger to pull her bottom eyelid down and she stuck out her tongue before disappearing behind the wall again. "You can't catch me, you can't catch me!"

"I don't think so," said Michael as he brought his bow back up, "I vote we blow the wall down." He pulled the bowstring back once more and let it fly. The arrow slammed into the wall, but disappeared without even leaving a hole in it. "Great, still nothing. That little girl is beating us. I believe it was my partner who said, 'we are playing against a little girl how could we lose?'. Well, I think I know how."

"You could've said no," said May as she kept her eye on the wall, "let's just go with your plan and try to find the Prison Jar on our own."

"Thank you," said Michael as he turned around and headed back down the corridor. "Great, after chasing down that girl, I'm even more lost then I was before. Any clues on which way to take? Left or right?"

"I don't have any idea," said May, dejectedly.

"Oh, I know!" shouted Spectra as she reappeared to their side, "left is right and right is wrong! So, we gotta go LEFT!"

Michael's eye twitched as he looked over at Spectra, the same girl that had been avoiding him and running through walls for the last few minutes in a game of tag. He turned to his left and began walking down the hallway.

"Not that left, your other left!" shouted Spectra. Michael stopped and backed up.

"No," said May, "uh, you were right Michael that was left."

"You were going to the wrong left," said Spectra, "you were going to your second left, I meant your first left."

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TWO LEFTS!" shouted Michael at Spectra.

Spectra's eyes widened. A little water formed in her eyes. "I'm sowwy. Please don't yell at me!"

"Michael!" shouted May as her weapon form began to glow green and transform. She was soon in her human form kneeling beside Spectra, "she's sorry! And she's just a little girl, how could you say something like that?"

"There is only one left," said Michael calmly. "Its not my fault she cried when I corrected her. I apologize deeply," Michael paused briefly, "So let's get going and find the Prison Jar."

"What about our game of Tag?" asked Spectra with a slight sniffle.

"Oh, yeah," said Michael, "its over. You won!" Michael gave her two thumbs up, "looks like we couldn't catch you."

"Oh," said Spectra, her normal cheer returning. "Then its my turn to be it!"

(-With Melody, Shi, Rochelle, and Saul-)

"How did you do that?" asked Melody already bringing Shi back around preparing for another strike.

"These soldiers in here," said Foreman as he bent down and picked up one of the chips of clay, "were all coated in my special mixture. I would get into the specifics, but it involves a lot of special chemical compounds that I have to create especially for this purpose. As a matter of fact each person in here is coated in an inch thick coat of this stuff. You can imagine how irritated I am that you destroyed so many of them. I find it very disrespectful."

"I'm about to go disrespectful all over you!" shouted Shi, "let's hit him, Melody."

"Right!" shouted Melody she brought Shi's yo-yo form straight through the air at Shi. His hardened yo-yo form coming smashing forward into Foreman's cheek. This one had a far less devastating effect then the previous one. Only a small crack appeared on Foreman's cheek.

"Please don't play me for the fool," said Foreman as he rubbed his cheek, "this body is a couple hundred years younger then the one you destroyed. I think I got this one from a young man about 300, maybe even 250 years ago. The one you destroyed moments ago was on having its 500th birthday. No, this one is leaner, meaner, and all around better then the previous one." Foreman drove forward at Melody and Shi. He struck out with a swift kick to her abdomen.

He launched himself backwards and landed gracefully back on his own feet. "No, this one is going to destroy you."

"Saul," said Rochelle taking a step forward, preparing for battle, "we need to intervene."

Saul chuckled to himself quietly. "You're kidding me, right? Do you want to insult the kids? They are warriors, students of the DWMA, hunting witches is what they are trained to do. If you step in now you will insult them, you will say they failed. I say we let them fight, if they get knocked unconscious then we'll intervene, but not a minute sooner." Saul sat down onto the ground and then laid back.

"You are just trying to be lazy," said Rochelle puffing her cheeks out at him in disapproval. "I think they need our help."

"Need and want are two different things," said Saul.

Rochelle looked away from Saul and at the two kids fighting Foreman. Melody returned Shi back to her hand and sent it spinning out at full speed aiming for Foreman's head. Shi smashed into Foreman's face, again without any real damage showing. Melody gritted her teeth as Shi returned to her once again.

Foreman dashed forward his palm wide open prepared to launch another devastating strike at them. Foreman brought his leg straight up into the air and then down upon Melody and Shi, Melody jumped backwards avoiding another devastating strike from Foreman. Her eyes fierce with determination.

Foreman jumped upward bringing his knee straight up at Melody. Melody flicked Shi away from her and around a nearby stone pillar. Shi's long lengthy yo-yo string wrapped securely around the stone pillar, Melody yanked on it sending her flying in its direction away from Foreman's blow. Foreman landed on the ground and brought his scimitar up and around, he drove forward towards Melody ready to slice her down without a second thought.

Melody sent Shi flying at Foreman. Foreman battered Shi to the side with his scimitar, ignoring the weapon as he continued to advance towards Melody. Foreman quickly gained ground and was soon right in front of Melody. Melody struck with Shi once again forcing the small yo-yo into the side of Foreman's face, but he ignored the pain and drove his scimitar upwards slicing into Melody's black jacket and drawing a quick bead of blood.

Melody stumbled backwards trying to quickly distance herself from Foreman, who seemed to be unfazed despite her numerous assaults on his head. She put a few feet in between them before she lashed out once more with Shi's yo-yo form, smashing it into the side of Foreman's face once more. A small crack appeared in the side of his face. Melody smiled, "yes. If I continue to hammer the same spot over and over again no matter how new the body is, it'll still crumble."

Foreman smiled, "of course. My magic does tend to break easily, especially after multiple hits, but…" Foreman brought his own fist upwards and into his face shattering it with a single punch.

One of the clay soldier next to Melody came alive bringing its spear down, walloping the large pointed weapon into Melody's shoulder sending her falling to the floor. This clay soldier was another young man. He appeared to be in his late teens, around 18, maybe 19. He was dressed in a pure black business suit, he had his black hair neatly combed. He had twirled the spear around in his hand as if taunting Melody.

"When you destroy one of my toy soldiers, I've got another one primed to take its place, so unless you can destroy me a thousand times before I destroy you," said Foreman with a chuckle, "you are still going to perish at the end of my spear. Now I am going to show you why you should respect your elders!" Foreman lunged forward with his spear at the ready.

* * *

><p>Before I get into the stuff you probably don't really care about I just want to apologize for the lateness in posting. Life has really been catching up with me. Moving, getting a job, a nasty sunburn. But don't worry, I hope to get right back on track soon.<p>

I was having a really hard time trying to decide between Hide and Seek for Spectra's game or Tag. I ended up siding with tag because…well, you'll see next chapter. And yes, Michael is upset.

Melody and Shi are having some huge trouble with trying to take down Foreman. With his impressive strength and the fact that he's been able to continuously change bodies to wide up in a new body completely free from any damage, they are the worst off. Also, congratulation Lala Formosan is based off of a termite. The Formosan Termite!


	13. Chapter 12 Breaking Clay

**Breaking Clay!**

**Broken Prison Jar!**

Foreman launched himself forward sending his entire body at Melody. Melody jumped backwards and landed on one of the clay soldiers. She pushed herself off of the clay soldier sending herself up into the air past Foreman. The clay soldier fell and shattered against the ground. Shi's yo-yo form sprouted small daggers from the center of the yo-yo. They dragged out and dug into Foreman's clay skin creating two long gapping holes in shoulder.

"Trying to destroy another piece of me, huh?" said the Foremanas he stuck his fingers into his new holes. "Too bad I can live with these holes." He dashed forward and thrust his spear outwards. Melody dodged backwards, but grimaced as the spear pierced her white stockings as well as some of her leg, blood dripped out of the wound and onto the ground.

"I can't wait to have a new body," said Foreman, "especially one as young as you two. Do you have any friends with you? Someone about your age? Cause young bodies are just so hard to come by these days. So many of them are overweight or have some kind of health deficiency. It's a pain…do you two have any diseases I should know about before I harden you in clay?"

"Yeah," said Melody as she sent Shi flying out at Foreman again, smashing the bladed yo-yo into his side, "I have a disease that makes it where I won't give in to the likes of you."

"She also has a disease called Cute-Butt-otosis," added Shi.

"Don't say that!" shouted Melody as jumped backward barely avoiding another scraping blow from Foreman's spear.

Foreman lunged forward sending his spear dangerously close to Melody's cheek. Melody yelped as she smashed into another one of the clay soldiers sending it straight into the ground, the clay shattering against the hard ground. Melody leapt back and sent Shi flying behind her. Shi wrapped its yo-yo's string around a dagger securely. Melody pulled it forward, ripping it out of the clay soldier's hand along with shattering the clay soldier's hand. Melody flung the dagger forward at Foreman. The dagger smashed into Foreman's forehead shattering his current vessel's body.

Melody whipped Shi around into a random clay soldier shattering it and sending it to the ground. As she brought Shi around again to smash it into another clay soldier, it came alive. It jumped upwards the clay shards slipping off of the new athletic body. It was a Caucasian male in his prime, probably early 30's. The man was well taken care of, huge muscles and incredibly strong. On both of his fists were brass launched forward from his place, he brought his fist upwards and into Melody sending her tossing and turning across the room.

Foreman leapt forward, refusing to let that be it. He brought his elbow down into Melody sending her flying downwards and into the floor. She grimaced as she brought herself to stand. She was breathing heavily, her entire body in a terrible state. "Shi."

"Right."

"Soul Resonance!" shouted the two in unison. The yo-yo began to spin rapidly its entire body spinning around and around. The small metal blades clicking one after another. Soon the entire yo-yo burst in brilliant white and red flames. The flames started to crawl up the yo-yo string's and onto Melody's hand and arm.

Melody lashed out sending the flaming yo-yo straight out at Foreman. The yo-yo flew through the air and smashed into the Foreman's bulging forearm. The flames exploded on impact easily smashing the arm into multiple chips that fell to the floor, helplessly. Foreman stumbled back his hand immediately fingered the new gaping hole in his arm.

"I'm impressed," said Foreman as he regained his balance, "the heat from the flames must make it easier to break the clay. Clever, but you still can't break all of my bodes before I break all of your bones!" Foreman rushed forward. He brought his remaining arm upwards smashing it into Melody, sending her into the air. He wrapped his hand around Melody's face and brought her straight down into the ground and pressed her into the ground, grinding her face into the hard floor.

"Are you having a hard time against me?" asked Foreman as he let go off Melody and stood straight, "I'll let you know something. The witch we are here to revive is tougher then me, he is stronger then me, he is more merciless then me. Be happy that you get to die at my hand," Foreman walked over to one of the clay soldier. He brought his arm straight down into the soldier's arm, breaking the blade it was holding free. He wrapped his hand around the blade and approached Melody once again, "because at least I am going to give you a quick death!"

"SAUL!" shouted Rochelle as she began to run forward towards the kids.

Saul jumped to his feet and wrapped his forearm around Rochelle's throat and used his other arm to brace his grip. He braced himself against the ground, refusing to let Rochelle mover forward even another inch. "You can't intrude on the fight yet! Those kids are up to something. They wouldn't be lying on the ground if they weren't. They are just getting a breather. Once they are done, they'll be back up and killing that witch."

Foreman smiled. "So much support. I got to admit it, it touches my heart. If you would've showed me a little more respect, then maybe, just maybe I would've spared you. Knocked you out, kicked you out of the temple, and then let you live your hopelessly misguided lives…but lets face it you didn't!" Foreman lifted the blade above his head ready to plunge it downwards into Melody.

Melody tossed Shi around behind Foreman and then sent Shi flying upwards towards the blade. Shi went underneath Foreman's good arm and straight up and around his blade. Melody yanked heavily on Shi's string, sending Foreman's arm downwards and back, forcing his own blade into his chest. Foreman's chest cracked wide open, soon the rest of the clay body followed.

Melody quickly jumped back onto her own feet and examined the numerous clay soldiers around her. She looked at each and everyone of them, expecting one of more of them to break free any moment now, charging at her with their own weapon. She couldn't even hear a thing, the area was deathly quiet.

"Look up!" shouted Shi. Melody immediately looked up to see what Shi saw.

A small slender man in a pure black jumpsuit was hanging upside down from the ceiling. Foreman slammed down into the ground crashing into one of the clay soldiers, smashing it into pieces. He bent down and picked up the small silver dagger the broken soldier was holding. "I'm sorry that I had to go to this extent in order to ensure your demise. I'll end it now!" Foreman dashed forward, his body a blur. He leapt forward sending his entire mass hurling at the duo.

Melody flung Shi forth sending his solid body forward and into Foreman blowing a whole in his chest and sending the empty vessel backwards careening into the clay soldiers behind, smashing them all to bits. Another clay soldier sprung to life slamming his knee into Melody guts and sent her back.

Foreman spun the large mace in his hand. "I can't believe I lost this many of my soldiers. I knew I should've brought some more with me from Egypt. But due to being rushed I had to make deal with the ones I stashed here already." Foreman looked around him and examined the damages, "absolutely disrespectful!" The majority of his clay soldiers were completely smashed, then most of the ones remaining had a limb or two smashed away.

Melody steadily twisted around to her side and stood up. Her body still hurting from Foreman's previous attack. "I don't know how many more of his hits I can take," said Melody.

"You don't need to take any more hits just avoid them," said Shi.

"If I would I could," said Melody as she spun Shi around on his string, trying to piece together all of her surrounding into a single puzzle that would help her beat Foreman. She was coming up to nothing. Even though most of his clay soldiers have already been smashed by her relentless attacks, he still had more then enough to finish them off as it was. Not to mention the fact Soul Resonance was really taking its toll on her body, Foreman's hits were beginning to feel like cinderblocks, and Shi was just a pain in the ass.

Just as Melody started to piece together her victory, a very powerful wavelength of pure soul pounded throughout the room. Melody's concentration was broken and her and Shi's Soul Resonance broke. The clay soldiers around them began to crumble under the sheer crushing strength of the soul wavelength.

Foreman stopped moving his entire body straightened out. "I welcome you, weapons and meisters! TO THE BEGINNING OF THE END!"

Saul leapt from his spot. His a glow with his Soul Wavelength crackling around it. He slammed his fist forward into Foreman's chest with speed and force that would put some roller coasters to shame. Foreman's chest cracked open, but his smile still present as the body fell to the ground.

"What were you doing?" asked Melody, "I just put together exactly how I was going to beat him. I was about to win!"

"You weren't doing it fast enough!" shouted Saul as he motioned to Rochelle. Rochelle lit up in a bright light and quickly reformed into her boomerang form, which flew to Saul. "A Soul Wavelength of that intensity could only mean one of a few things…the seal on the Prison Jar has become undone."

"I thought we still had another year left on it," said Shi, "I'm pretty sure a year hasn't passed since we got this mission, because if it did then I didn't get a birthday cake or Christmas presents."

"When you build something to hold off a powerful evil for about three millennia you sacrifice a year or two," said Saul as he began to run for the exit.

"So what kind of powerful evil are we talking about?" asked Melody.

(-in the center of the temple-)

The room was large and circular. There were currently two witches in it. Iblis Raven who was currently holding her own arm up. She was injured badly and bleeding profusely. She had on a makeshift cast of random fabric. The other one had on a pure white robe and his huge eyes were currently transfixed on the small jar in the middle of the room.

The jar was small with tapestries and talismans attached to it. The wooden lid on top was cracked, terribly close to the point of breaking.

There was a small shift in the corner. A clay soldier protected with an overcoat of armor sprang to life the clay dripping off of him. Foreman fell to his knees coughing. He looked up at the other two witches, neither one of them making any movements to help him to his feet, "No respect for their elders at all." He stood up and patted some of the remaining clay off of him. "Where's Spectra at?"

"We don't need her," said the one in the white robe as he scurried over the Prison Jar and tried to peer down into it. "He is almost here. What good is that little brat going to do for us?"

Foreman sighed. "I tried to give this man a proper welcome as a sign of respect to him, but I failed. A man of his age definitely deserves a proper welcome from his friends."

"Stop talking about your damn age," cursed Iblis as she gripped her wounded arm, "I have an injury? Where's my respect?"

"You lost," said Foreman, "people who run away from their fights don't deserve much respect. The old and the deceased deserve respect. I can help you become one of those…but the other is something you earn."

Iblis turned her head away and stuck her nose up at him.

A large white hand leapt out of the Prison Jar and onto the ground. A man slowly pulled himself out of her the Prison Jar. His entire body was covered in water, nothing else. He was tired and his eyes were pretty close to shutting. He turned around and looked at the large-eyed man, who was standing close to him. He motioned with his hand to the man and made a grabbing motion. The large-eyed man quickly took off his robe and gave it to him. He was left in a tight black T-shirt and short pants.

The man that came out of the Prison Jar wrapped the white robe around him. "A thousand years will give you such a crank in the neck," said the man as he twisted his neck around in his hand. He looked up at his friends and smiled, "this is the beginning of the end, friends."

* * *

><p>The Prison Jar broke! One of the deadliest witches of all time is free and he has a plan and the power to execute such a plan. How will Shi and Melody fair now that Saul has gotten serious? How is Michael and May doing against little Spectra? Are Ash and Xander any closer to the Prison Jar?<p>

I say welcome to the beginning of the end!

Also this new witch also has some basis in real-life. Any guesses? Probably not, I haven't given you enough information about him yet.


	14. Chapter 13 The Witch with the Diseased

**The Witch with the Diseased Mind!**

The witch from the Prison Jar stood up and lifted his white robe up and around him. "Good day, friends. I am Marburg, it's a pleasure to see so many friendly faces as soon as I awoke. May I ask if you've heard from any of my brothers?"

"They are still silent," said Foreman quickly offering up an answer.

"That's too bad I was hoping for a family reunion," said Marburg with a sigh. "Perhaps they'll get in touch with me later on, hmm? Anyways, let us start. I've been asleep for nearly three millennia I feel the need to stretch my legs, do you have someone for me?"

The witch with the big eyes nodded vigorously. He quickly disappeared around the corner only to reappear moments later with a human strapped onto a table. Marburg wandered over to it and examined it closely. His lips smacking loudly as he examined the human body. It was that of a fit young man, Marburg examined every detail of it. When he came to the neck, he frowned.

"What's the matter?" asked the large-eyed witch, "I mean I got everything to your exact specifications. A white male, mid-30's, a good medical history, everything you asked for!" The large-eyed witch drew closer to Marburg with anger in his eyes.

"I wanted him to be alive," said Marburg, "it appears he's been so malnourished and treated so poorly these last couple of days he has died. Its such a shame, he was almost perfect." Marburg began to trace circles on top of the head of the dead male.

Foreman backed away from the center of the room. He motioned at the other two to back up as well. Iblis noticed and quickly backed away from Marburg and the large-eyed witch. The large-eyed witch didn't take note and continued to talk back to Marburg.

"What are you talking about?" he complained loudly, "I followed your specifications. We set you free, I got you the body you wanted, and all we want you to do is to get to work! Just start working your magic and we can all be happy!"

Marburg's eyes twisted up and rested on the large-eyed fellow. "Tell me something, young witch. Have you been alive for three millennia? No? Good, then listen. When I want a living, middle aged, Caucasian male I better get it!" His hand shot out and wrapped tightly around the large-eyed man's neck. His grip slowly began to tightened. "You think that my test subject being alive doesn't matter, well, you know what I think. I think that you being alive doesn't matter!" The large-eyed man began to break out. Small red hives began to dot his face and arms. His face became an unnatural greenish-color.

"Wait!" shouted Foreman interrupting Marburg's bone-crushing grip. He looked at his poor, sickish companion.

Marburg's eyes fell silently upon him. "What is it?" The witch within Marburg's grip slowly lifted his hand up to Marburg's vice-like grip and fingered it, with his bulbous fingers.

"I think you are going to be getting your test subject soon," said Foreman with a smile. "A Caucasian male meister is coming here. I can't testify for his medical history, but he's certainly is alive."

Marburg let go of the large-eyed man and let him drop to the floor. "Yeessss? I can hardly wait. Make sure he's alive when he gets to me."

"Greko," said Foreman as he picked up the large-eyed man, "I think you better handle this one." The small red hives on Greko slowly began to disappear as Greko returned to his normal pale skin tone.

A large tick appeared on Greko's head. He hated the idea of obeying an old man like Foreman, but if he spoke up now Marburg may just kill him. Greko smiled and bowed his head despite being vastly annoyed. "Yes…I'll handle this one."

"Yeah, because you failed miserably to get what Marburg wanted in the first place," said Iblis with a cruel and demeaning smile on her face.

Greko's eyes became mere slits as he glared over at Iblis. "I'll be the only one in this group to actually win against the intruders. Unlike you, the little birdie who came back with broken wing. Or the man whose entire army was crushed by a little girl."

Foreman smiled, accepting the insult, "I just hope you come back alive."

"I'd prefer it if he died," said Iblis with a smile.

(-With Michael And May-)

Michael dove forward barely avoiding a large rock that came flying above his head. He continued to drive forward avoiding the hazardous little girl behind him. Spectra was floating about in the air, joyously ripping rocks out of the ground or wall and sending them flying at Michael and May.

"I remember a certain someone trying to shoot a little girl with an arrow to win," said May, "it looks like the tables have turned."

"If I get crushed so will you," said Michael as he dashed forward, quickly turning down another path to avoid a dead end. "Then we are also getting even further loss." Michael skidded to a stop at the corner. He looked behind him. Spectra wasn't following them at the current moment. "I mean seriously how many left turns have we taken? I don't even know the way out any more."

May whined briefly as she tried to recall the correct path to the exit. "I don't know. If we just keep our hand on the right wall we will be able to find our way out. Like in a maze."

Michael sighed, "we are lost in an ancient temple with absolutely no idea how to get out. Could things get any worse?"

"Spectra's here!" shouted Spectra as she popped her head through the wall with a bright smile on her face. Another large rock was flung through the air at Michael. Michael spun around and quickly fired an arrow from May at the rock. May's arrow flew into the rock, splitting it into hundreds of pieces that clattered onto the ground.

"Spectra thought Spectra had you with that one," said Spectra as she pouted through the wall. Michael quickly loaded another arrow and let it fly. Spectra quickly pulled her head back into the wall, disappearing before the arrow smashed into the wall.

Michael cursed as he charged at the wall. He fired a single punch forward into the wall. The wall remained steady doing absolutely nothing. Michael looked down at the ground, discouraged. "Okay, Spectra! Just come on out! I'm ready for you!" Michael grasped the bow once more and pulled back preparing for another shot.

Spectra peeked back out of the wall at Michael. She put her thumbs into her ear and stuck out her tongue, mocking him. Michael swiveled around and fired a single compressed arrow into the wall. Spectra vanished into the wall again, causing the arrow to slam into the wall, jutting out hazardously. Michael sighed as he viewed the wall again pressing his hand against the wall. "This is just getting annoying. Whenever I shoot, she vanishes. Got any ideas?"

May's reflection in the bow began to smile. "I actually do."

(-A couple of minutes later-)

Michael was walking down the hallway. He was eyeing the wall every so often in search of Spectra. Every so often he would approach the wall and bang on it. "Hello! Spectra! Anybody there?" Michael continued to walk down the hallway oblivious to everything else around him.

Spectra emerged from one of the walls behind him. A large rock in hand and a creepy smile on her face. Spectra chucked the large rock at Michael. Michael reacted quickly diving to the ground allowing the large rock to pass straight over him. Michael turned over about to get up, only to realize that Spectra was floating above him, another large rock in her hand. Michael was still smiling.

"Spectra caught Michael!" shouted Spectra, "Spectra wins. Now penalty game Michael and his talking bow die!"

"I think Spectra lost," said Michael as he lifted his empty hands above his head.

"Huh?" asked Spectra lost. She temporarily lost the rock almost dropping it to the side next to Michael.

"Hey, Spectra!" shouted May's voice. Spectra swiveled around. Behind her stood May in her human form. Her left arm transformed into half-of-a-bow. A single arrow was loaded into it, ready to fire. Spectra's eyes widened as May let loose of the arrow. The arrow flew through the air, piercing through Spectra's abdomen. As the arrow drove through Spectra, she lost her control on the floating rock tossing it harmlessly into the side of the wall. The force of the arrow carried both itself and Spectra even further down the hall and pinning her against the wall.

Michael quickly flipped himself back up and onto his feet. May jogged over next to her, her body lit up in a green light, twisting itself back into the shape of the bow. Michael turned about and aimed with the bow keeping it trained on Spectra. Michael was soon back to Spectra his bow mere inches away from her body.

"I feel so dirty, shooting a little kid like that," said May.

"Somehow I don't think that little kid felt dirty when she was trying to kill us," said Michael as he nudged Spectra's body with the tip of the arrow.

Spectra's eyes slowly opened as she looked up at Michael and May. "You big, fat, meanie! Why did you have to go ahead and hurt Spectra? Spectra never did anything to you!"

Michael gritted his teeth as he looked away. "We won the little game with you and we just want to get directions to get to the center of the temple."

"Spectra says GOOD-bye!" shouted Spectra as she vanished back into the wall. Michael ran forward pounding his fists into the wall.

"CRAP!" shouted Michael, "we won! We need those directions!"

"Give up, Michael," said May, "I don't think she's coming back after we shot her."

"You are probably right," said Michael as he turned around. "Any idea on how to get out of here?"

"Nope."

(-With Ash and Xander-)

"Its so dark down here," complained Ash as he skirted around a cobweb up in the corner, "I can barely see all the dirt on the ground. I mean my shoes are covered in filth." Ash continually looked up and around him for any more cobwebs, careful not to get covered in any of them.

"How are they covered in filth?" asked Xander, "You just washed them three minutes ago." His reflection wore a painful and bored expression.

"They just are!" shouted Ash. "I've been thrown into a mud pit, attacked by a psychopathic witch, knocked out, and beaten up! This is not a good day for me." Ahs quickly ducked beneath another cobweb.

"Oh, yeah, you think you've got it hard!" shouted Xander, "I've been stuck with you all day!"

"How is that bad?" asked Ash.

"Maybe you didn't hear me correctly," said Xander, "I'm…stuck…with…you!" Xander said each word slowly, drawing them out for emphasis.

"And you are such a walk in…" said Ash as he took a step forward. He quickly leapt back. "Oh, what the heck did I just step in?"

"Hopefully a puddle of personality," said Xander looking down beneath him at the brown kind of squished pile.

Ash bent down and took a whiff of his shoe, "oh, crap! I think its pig manure!"

"How do you know its not cow manure?" asked Xander.

"There's a difference," said Ash as he sat down and took out a wet wipe. Ash took off his shoe and began to wipe it clean of the manure. "Might as well clean the other shoe while I'm at it." Ash bent down and took off his second shoe and began cleaning it.

"Hey, while you at it, why don't you clean your undies? You probably soiled yourself when we fighting Iblis," mocked Xander. "Or do they have ducks on them, too?"

Ash looked over at the puddle he stepped in. He brought Xander's arm blade up and straight back down into the puddle, rubbing Xander into the pile of manure.

"What the hell?" asked Xander, "now I'm covered in pig crap!"

"How do you know its not cow crap?" mocked Ash.

* * *

><p>Bad news first. I just started collegework so expect slower updates from me. I will still try to get one up...once every two weeks. But who knows...it might only be once a month. I PROMISE IT WILL NOT GO LONGER THEN THAT!

Ta-daaah! The next chapter. Marburg's personality and strength is beginning to show. Can any of you guys guess what or who he is based off of? He has a real basis. Good luck guessing, I dropped enough hints I believe. Anyways, finally Michael, May, and Spectra's 'fight' dwindles down to a close. We also got a nice insight to how Ash and Xander are faring…not so well.


	15. Chapter 14 Saul Versus Marburg Part I

**Saul Versus Marburg!**

**Time to Begin!**

Saul had Rochelle in her boomerang proudly hanging off of his back. He looked down upon the defeated and plastered Greko. He ignored Greko's whimpering as he walked on top of him and over him, continuing on his pace. "It looks like you failed my first test, miserably little witch. Perhaps the other ones deeper inside will provide much more of a challenge for me?"

Melody followed quietly behind Saul, but her eyes never left Greko. Just moments ago that witch popper up in front of them. His Soul Protect off and his witch energy flowing around the room at full blast, but now mere minutes later. He was lying across the floor, battered, bloody, and beaten. Saul and Rochelle had dispatched him so quickly, she didn't know what to say. She just felt weak, having struggled against a witch before their eyes and then just seeing them take one down so effortlessly.

"I'm sorry," said Melody, "for all the mean things and all the stupid things Shi must've said to you, Saul. Just because he's an idiot, though, you shouldn't try to kill him."

"Hey!" shouted Shi from Melody's hip, in his yo-yo form. "I can still take him any time, any day, any place. So, you don't need to apologize for the stupid things I said."

"Pointless groveling or idiotic arrogance," said Saul with a gravely tone, "Its actually a toss-up in which one I find more annoying."

"Saul!" scolded Rochelle loudly, "stop being mean to these poor young students, they didn't do anything to you."

"Like I care," said Saul waving his hand and immediately dismissing her, "I barely care about them, so why would I care about what they did to me."

"I'm surprised he cares even a little bit," said Shi, "I thought he was just cruel, heartless, and downright dumb bastard."

"We are almost at the witches corridor," said Saul, "you have two options either A) stay out of the fight or B) get killed. I don't particularly care…"

"Shut it, Saul!" shouted Rochelle. Saul shrugged and stopped talked as he continued down the path.

"I say we kill Saul," said Shi out loud, "I think if all three of us gang up together, we could probably pull it off."

Melody smirked at Shi's big-headedness. His cockiness was one of the reasons why they made such a great pair…but she doubted that they could even lay a finger on Saul even with Rochelle's help. She just wanted to know what was with Saul, he seemed to have undergone such a major personality change since they met him.

The center of the temple opened up around them. Marburg was standing in the center of it, fussing over the body he had. Despite the fact that it wasn't to his exact specifications he was bored and needed someone to operate on. A dead body is better the no body. Foreman was up against a wall he was writing numbers down on a piece of paper, apparently trying to calculate how many bodies he had left, before he needed to go get some new ones. Iblis was huddled in a corner, trying to treat her own wound. Marburg didn't give a crap about her and Foreman had no interest.

Marburg lifted his head up at the intruders. He didn't seem annoyed at the fact that Saul was unrestrained and ready to fight as a matter of fact he seemed pleased. Foreman quickly bounced back up onto his feet ready to fight, despite his lack of bodies or weaponry. Iblis remained unperturbed, already injured she didn't want to make it worse.

"Looks like Grecko failed you once again, Marburg," said Foreman with a smile. He knew all too well that Grecko was no match Saul. He wished he would've been able to see Grecko's face as Saul bashed it in. Anyone with as little respect for their elders as Grecko did, deserved that.

Saul looked over at Marburg, his face twisted into anger. "Nice to see such an old witch," said Saul, "it brings back memories from my old days. When I was slaying witches with my partner."

Marburg smiled, "memories are nice. I mean if you get trapped in a crummy little jar for thousands of years, you have nothing more then your memories to keep you company. Memories about my brothers and friends…I'm sure you have fond memories of your partner."

"That I do," said Saul. "We used to do everything together. We fought and played, things were simpler back then."

"That's great. How is he doing?" said Marburg.

"Saul," said Rochelle from his hand, "you don't have to answer that."

"She's dead," said Saul, "she died saving her fiancé."

Marburg's smile vanished. "That is such a tragedy. Young love is certainly beautiful." Marburg stopped talking and tapped his chin. He looked down at the dead body on the table. "I don't suppose, I'd be able to talk you into getting on the table without a fight."

"No," said Saul, "I promised my partner, I'd kill all you damn witches." Saul reached down to his pocket and pulled a light green bottle. He undid the top and began drinking. When he was finished he put the top back on and set it on the ground, "I'm sorry did you want some?"

"No, I was just hoping that your liver would be in better shape," said Marburg as he looked at Saul's abdomen, "shame. Well, then shall we get started with the fight? Foreman, get him." Marburg simply motioned with his head and Foreman was out of the gates dashing towards Saul. Foreman twisted his body around firing a single punch at Saul's head.

Saul didn't even flinch. Foreman's hand was redirected in a completely different direction. A small metal yo-yo had slammed into it, sending it off of its intended course and crashing into the ground. Melody quickly stepped forward blocking the path. "Hey, Saul," said Shi.

"What is it, child's plaything?" asked Saul.

"You got two options," said Shi, "A) stay out of the fight or B) get killed."

Saul smiled as he braced himself against the ground, Rochelle's boomerang in one hand. His Soul Wavelength coursing through the other, "I think I'm starting to like you."

Saul leapt from his spot charging forward towards Marburg. Marburg jumped backwards narrowly avoiding Saul's glowing fist as it pummeled into the ground, sending sharp shards of pebbles in all directions. Marburg quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver sphere. He tossed it up into the air where it exploded coating the entire room in a fine silvery dust. Saul spun around on his heels and struck with a finely tuned karate kick straight up at Marburg. Marburg blocked it with his arm and was sent flying from the force.

The silvery dust landed all over Saul. Saul reached up to his shoulder about to pat it off, when the silvery dust disappeared, seeping into his skin. "What's that some kind of poisonous powder?" Saul pulled back Rochelle and sent her flying off and towards Marburg. Marburg ducked down avoiding the initial impact from the boomerang, but Rochelle twisted her body around and ended up whacking him with the bare tip of her boomerang, knocking him down to the ground. Saul quickly caught Rochelle and prepared for another strike.

Marburg smiled as he stood up, "let's not do anything rash now. I know you must be itching for a fight…actually you know what scratch that." Marburg produced another small sphere, this one though has a red hue. "I may prefer my specimens to be alive, but I can do numerous things with a dead host. Creating my rather unique dust is one of those things." Marburg twisted about and sent the small red ball out and towards Saul.

Saul brought Rochelle up and in front of him, using her large mass to block the incoming sphere. The sphere exploded on her and some of the fine red dust sprayed over her and splashed onto Saul's face and shoulders. Saul backed up as he let loose a monstrous cough. His free hand subconsciously began to scratch his arm, due to a mild irritation forming there. Saul didn't pause though, he quickly launched himself from his position and sent himself flying over Marburg. He brought his free hand forward, throwing a single powerful punch directly at Marburg. The punch connected with Marburg's face sending him flying backward towards the wall. Marburg reacted quickly though, he flipped around and braced his feet against the wall. He launched himself from that position back at Saul, while producing a third small sphere, this one green in color.

Marburg tossed the small green sphere at Saul. Saul dodged it, mostly on instinct and precaution. He didn't know what the small spheres did to him, but he knew if a witch as powerful as Marburg was using them he'd want to avoid them as much as possible. Saul quickly spun out and sent Rochelle flying at him. Marburg quickly jumped into the air avoiding the flying boomerang. Saul charged forward and into the air for Marburg aiming for his front, while Rochelle, on her return trip, came spiraling in from behind.

Marburg looked at his two attackers carefully. He stayed focused on Saul, more worried about his Soul Wavelength then a bump in the back from Rochelle. He struck out with his leg aiming a carefully and well-guided kick that slammed into Saul's vicious punch. Marburg sent Saul backwards and away from him, but Rochelle, undeterred came crashing in from behind. Marburg fell to the ground, his back in pain and a large bruise already forming.

Marburg stood up, his face no longer in its previous stats of a bored, but pleasant smile or a bored, but sympathetic frown. This time he wore the face of a man enraged, but was having fun. "My first fight in a couple of millennia! I was hoping it would be against someone of your caliber! I was worried that when I crawled forth from my long and almost unending imprisonment that I would be forced to fight some tourist or some wanna-be, but no I'm fighting someone of experience and power. What more could a man of my age want?"

"A good-looking face?" mocked Saul, "or maybe not to have to fight someone who is going to kill him? Both of those seem like more reasonable answers to me." Rochelle came spinning back to Saul, Saul reached up and grabbed her. "But if you want someone who is going to challenge, I won't hold back any longer."

"You were holding back as well?" asked Marburg with a smile as he straightened his back out, "so was I! It looks like this fight is just kicking off to a marvelous start. You want to show your hand first or should I?"

"Age before beauty," replied Saul.

"See that Foreman," said Marburg turning around and looking at his underling, who was busy trying to fight off, Melody and Shi. He didn't have another body left in this temple, so he was taking extra precautions to make sure this one didn't get damaged. Melody and Shi, were breathing heavily from their past fight.

"What is it?" asked Foreman as he parried another strike from Shi's metal yo-yo.

"Respect," said Marburg, "and you said people nowadays have no respect for us older folks." Marburg returned his attention to Saul, "but now let's see if you can handle my true power. The previous ailments you've gotten from my attacks, a minor itch…a slight cough, are nothing compared to my final illness!" Marburg opened his mouth wide a sickly, translucent green smoke began to fall out from his mouth and fill the room, "now you'll know why I am the beginning of the end!"

Saul's free hand jumped up to his shirt and dragged a large bundle of it forward and up to his mouth covering it. He wasn't about to allow a small trickle of the green fog into his mouth for any reason. He looked about him. The green fog did absolutely nothing to impair his vision. He blinked a couple of times and looked about. Melody, Shi, and Foreman were safely out of the fog's radius. Of course, they would be, Marburg probably didn't want to this fog to affect Foreman with…whatever it did.

"I guess its my turn to return the favor," said Saul as he looked at Rochelle's reflection. She nodded back at him. "Me and Rochelle don't see eye-to-eye very often as a matter of fact we fight…a lot. But we do have one thing in common…

Rochelle's reflection turned towards Marburg, "we both want to take you down," she said glaring at him.

"SOUL RESONANCE!" shouted Saul and Rochelle in unison.

* * *

><p>Marburg is now serious, but so is Saul. Will Saul's and Rochelle's Soul Resonance be able to match up to Marburg's latest revelation of power? With Marburg's deadly green fog blanketing the field and the heroes completely lost as to what it does, what kind of hope is left for them? Is this truly the beginning of the end?<p>

Also, for those of you who are actually interested in who/what Marburg is based off of (probably like one, maybe two), here's a quick recap:

-He's the beginning of the end.

-His name is a pretty big clue, if you ask me.

-He wears a pure white robe.

-He has some brothers (take this with a grain of salt, though, while it makes sense if you know what he is…it might just confuse you until then).

-His small spheres inflict a rash and a cough.

50 CSpacian points to whoever puts this puzzle together. (CSpacian points are not redeemable in Canada, the US, Europe, planet Earth, Mars, Mercury, the moon, or most of the other planets. If you are ever on Uranus though…)


	16. Chapter 15 Foreman & Iblis

**Iblis and Foreman!**

**Versus!**

**Melody, Ash, Michael, Shi, Xander, and May!**

Melody and Shi were tossed to the ground from another direct punch from Foreman. He was spending a much longer time dispatching them. Melody quickly got back up on her feet. Foreman was by far much stronger now then he was before. This body was much better watched after then the ones Melody and Shi smashed before. It looked more realistic, too.

He looked like he was in sixties. His face was covered in wrinkles. His left eye was hidden beneath an eye patch. Despite his ancient appearance he was well-developed. He was strong-looking and fit. He had on an impressive military jacket decorated with multiple badges and awards. He had a long cutlass on his side, but he had yet to have drawn it against Melody and Shi.

"Come on," said Foreman as he began to approach the duo who were currently trying to figure out a way out of this problem. "What happened to that youthful spunk you had a couple of minutes back? Do you lack both respect and discipline? If you were disrespectful enough to challenge me to a fight and smash an endless amount of my soldiers, don't you think you could at least be well-disciplined enough to fight me at your full power. What happened to that Soul Resonance you were just using? Let's try that again?"

Melody looked down at Shi. She didn't know if she had it in her for another Soul Resonance. Resonating with Shi wasn't easy work. Shi's thoughts tend to jump around and become distorted in that weird little head of his. Matching it up with him, tends to be difficult and not something she liked doing often.

Foreman leapt forward at them. Melody sent Shi outwards at Foreman's face. Foreman grabbed ahold of Shi's string and pulled Shi forward forcing Melody off of her feet and towards him. Foreman braced himself against the ground and fired a single punch at Melody. His fist collided with Melody's face sending her back to the ground. Foreman chuckled as he backed up and looked them. "Seriously, going against a witch without Soul Resonance? Are you dim or just crazy?"

"I'm crazy," said Shi, "Melody's just a cute face."

"At least its not about my butt," said Melody as she staggered back up to her feet.

"Well, that's cute too," said Shi.

Foreman began to approach Melody slowly. Melody lashed out with Shi sending it along with its sharp little blades digging into his clothes and skin. Foreman jumped backwards avoiding getting the blades stuck into his skin any deeper and destroying his last vessel. Foreman reached onto his waist and pulled his cutlass off of his waist and waved it around in front of him, preparing to launch an attack.

Foreman leapt from his spot towards Melody lashing out with his sword. Melody flipped backwards, leaving Foreman's blade alone and just swiping away at the air. Foreman groaned as he charged forward again with his blade, launching slice after slice after slice. Melody kept dodging each slice with a mixed amount of movements including flips, jumps, and dives. Melody had barely touched down on the ground from a precious flip when Foreman launched a vicious kick. Melody grunted as she was thrust backwards into the air and across the ground.

"Still capable of standing or do you want to want awhile for you to be strong enough to stand," said Foreman, "because I have all the time in the world. You guys probably only have a few more minutes. I mean, Marburg looks like he's just about done with your teacher."

"Oh, really," said Shi as his reflection glances over there, "Cause it looks like my teacher is teaching Marburg a few lessons in the school of hard knocks."

Foreman's face twitched with rage, "where's your respect? That man has endured thousands of years and he's still standing. I think he deserves more respect then what you are giving him!" Foreman lifted his blade into the air and brought it down with surprising power and speed.

"And once again the real heroes make a dramatic entrance to save the damsel in distress."

Ash stood in between Melody and Foreman with Xander up, pressing him against Foreman's cutlass. Xander was smiling and cocky, he was the one that said the last line. His sturdy gauntlet holding up well underneath the pressure of Foreman's powerful strike. "Want to try again? Because if you do I will make sure it will be your last," said Ash as he pushed away, sending Foreman backing away.

"Well," said Foreman, "it looks like the flies just keep on buzzing. It looks like I have some exterminating to do. Its odd how people who deserve the most respect like me always get stuck with the lackeys job. Do you want to help out, Iblis?"

Iblis turned away and turned her nose up at him, "Like I even need to. You seem like you are doing perfectly fine, why should I sully my wings with idiots like them?"

"Hey, Ash may be an idiot, but I'm not!" shouted Xander.

"Really?" asked Ash, "not even going to try to defend me? Besides this idiot just kicked your butt!"

"Next time you might want to omit the 'idiot' part," said Xander.

"I KNOW!" shouted Ash.

"Ash!" shouted Melody as she stood back up. "Thank goodness that you are here! Where are Michael and May?"

"What are we not good enough?" asked Xander, pretending to get annoyed, "I mean I would personally take May…or Michael over Ash, but…"

"What smells like cow crap?" asked Shi.

"ITS PIG CRAP!" shouted Xander.

"They are on the way," said Ash trying to get the subject back onto track, "we ran into them on the way here. Its just taking them a little bit longer to get here…"

"Did you also run into a pile of cow manure?" asked Shi.

"Pig…manure," said Ash, sheepishly, "and it was only puddle. Besides I offered Xander some of my cologne, but he refused to take it."

"I'm sorry, but I don't wear perfume," said Xander.

"For the last time it wasn't perfume, it was cologne!" shouted Ash.

"Nobody makes lavender scented cologne!" shouted Xander, "that's not a manly essence!"

Shi's reflection took a quick whiff of the air. "Ash smells like a woman!"

"I do not smell like a woman!" shouted Ash, "Lavender can be a very manly scent."

"Um…I'm wearing lavender," piqued in Melody.

"HAH!" shouted Xander, "you smell like Melody! You smell like a woman!"

"How do you know Melody doesn't smell like a man?" asked Ash, jumping to his defense.

"Because men don't wear lavender!"

"I'm a man and I'm wearing lavender!" shouted Ash, "therefore men wear lavender!"

"Hey!" said Xander, "the jury is still out on whether or not you are a man."

"Not that this isn't interesting," said Foreman as he waved his sword around in the air at the group, "but I feel very disrespected with being ignored like this. You are in my presence and interrupted my fight, so I would appreciate it if we could continue with it and then if you guys can still breathe you can continue your little argument about whether that little…child is a man or not."

"I AM A MAN!" shouted Ash.

Foreman dashed next to him and launched a swift strike into his abdomen forcing him backwards and through the air. "I don't care if you are a man or not. I do not tolerate disrespect from man, woman, or anything in-between. If you show me disrespect I will take you down without a second thought."

Ash quickly rebounded back up onto his feet. He swiftly ran over to Foreman and made a quickly punch at him with his bladed gauntlet intending to cut into Foreman, but Foreman quickly lashed out with his cutlass deflecting Ash's punch and sending it to the side with a quick slash. He then drove his knee forward at Ash as a follow-through. Foreman quickly backed away as Melody lashed out with Shi. Shi's hard bladed yo-yo form flew through the air at Foreman. The sharp daggers barely missing Foreman's rock hard body.

Foreman skidded safely to a stop a few feet away. He charged forward with his cutlass swinging wildly at his two opponents. Ash brought his gauntlet up to block and Melody quickly flipped backwards to put herself out of his range. Foreman's cutlass smashed into Ash's gauntlet forcing him skidding back across the floor. Melody avoided another close cut with a second flip.

"Xander," said Ash, "I think I'm going to have to perform another Soul Resonance just to keep up with this guy. He's nothing like the other witch we faced."

"Just our luck," said Xander, "I don't think you have enough blood to make it worth it. Right now only thing it would give you is a sharper blade."

"Good enough!" shouted Ash. "SOUL RESONANCE!" Xander's blade began to glow brightly. It began to grow longer, but skinnier. Its edge sharpened to perfection. Ash charged forward and a made a quick swing with his blade. Foreman swung downwards, intercepting the razor-sharp blade with his shining cutlass. He applied enough force onto his saber to send Ash's hand sprawling back to the ground. Suddenly Melody lashed out sending her yo-yo over at the duo, the blades extending from the childish yo-yo form spun rapidly at Foreman. Foreman brought his free arm up and blocked the yo-yo form. The sharp blades dug into Foreman's thick coat and even thicker layer of skin only managing to scratch it.

Foreman jumped backwards, putting more space in-between him and his opponents. "Only one scratch from this long of fighting. And you actually believe that you are an equal match for me." Foreman quickly turned his attention and his blade towards a new direction. He lashed out his sword at what at first seemed like nothing, but after his sword intercepted it and broke it down into pieces, was an arrow.

"Dang," said Michael as he quickly pulled another arrow out of May, "so much for element of surprise. Ash! Xander! You didn't distract him well enough!"

"You could've gotten here sooner!" shouted Xander, "its not like we told you to make a dramatic entrance."

"Oh, yeah, coming from Mr. 'real heroes make a dramatic entrance to save the damsel in distress'," said Shi.

"Better late then never," said Melody as she rearmed Shi and prepared to fire another blow. "Just keep applying the pressure!" Melody tossed Shi forward, its sharp metal blades swirling forward at Foreman.

"Better early then late," said Xander, just trying to contradict her.

"Shut up," said Ash as he charged forward. He prepared another punch with his bladed gauntlet as he approached Foreman.

"Adjusting for angle, wind velocity, speed of target, and…we're all set to fire, Michael," said May, "just launch."

"Cool," said Michael. "FIRE!" Michael released the bowstring firing a single well-aimed arrow positioned straight for Foreman's head.

Foreman frowned, uncomfortably. Avoiding three attacks was no easy business, not even for someone of his age and experience. He bent down and prepared to dodge backwards, when a strong wind swept through the temple blowing Ash, Shi, and Michael's arrow all aside with a mighty gust.

"How's that for respect, you old geezer?" asked Iblis as she floated over to them, still floating cockily on her large bed of air. "I saved you from a three-on-one attack. I guess 'heroes do always arrive at the most dramatic moments to save the damsel in distress', only this time a man is the damsel and a woman is the hero. That's how it should be after all."

Foreman quickly regrouped his thoughts and prepared his saber for another slash. "I would've preferred more respect with that last statement, but I guess since you saved me the trouble of dodging all three attacks, I'll let it slide. Are you going to help me squash these three like the insects they are? Or are you just going to rest on that comfy bed of air, you got there?"

"Why can't I do both?" asked Iblis with a yawn as she rolled onto her back, "these three don't look like much…but before we begin can I ask if any of you have seen Spectra? She's usually not gone for this long."

"I don't even know who Spectra is," said Ash as he prepped another attack.

"Same here," said Melody.

"_I don't particularly care to say to a witch that I shot an arrow at the little girl she just asked about," _thought May quietly.

"Nope, haven't seen this Spectra…person," lied Michael as he quickly drew back another arrow.

"Fine," said Iblis, "I guess we'll just have to track her down after we are done with killing, skinning, chopping up, and leaving these kids out to dry. I'm personally tempted to impale them and ship them over to the DWMA where that Lord Death would just leave us be for once."

"Don't talk about him in front of Marburg," said Foreman as he brought his sword in front of him, "they had a bit of a falling out a long time ago and I'm sure Marburg isn't interested in reliving it."

* * *

><p>Michael, May, Ash, and Xander have all showed up just in the nick of time to save the day. But Iblis is now also entering the fray. This is turning out to be a bad, bad day! Keep on reading to find out more!<p>

Also, much like both Saga of the Infinity Pirates and Iron Hammer of Justice. I have a contest for you OC creators. For those of you who are wondering who/what Marburg is based off of, it was Pestilence of the Four Horsemen! (I also accepted Death)! Special congratulations to Man in the Hat for guessing correctly. Anyways, onto the contest. With Pestilence being introduced the other Horseman are feeling left out...so I need War and Famine to be created! That's where you guys come in!


	17. Chapter 16 Power of Pestilience

**The Power of Pestilence!**

"I guess its my turn to return the favor," said Saul as he looked at Rochelle's reflection. She nodded back at him. "Me and Rochelle don't see eye-to-eye very often as a matter of fact we fight…a lot. But we do have one thing in common…"

Rochelle's reflection turned towards Marburg, "we both want to take you down," she said glaring at him.

"SOUL RESONANCE!" shouted Saul and Rochelle in unison.

Rochelle's boomerang form began to spinning around in place in Saul's hand. The boomerang soon began to blur together to form one giant spinning disc. Saul's Soul Wavelength flickered around it creating a powerful outer layer. Soon Rochelle became a large buzz saw-like weapon at the end of Saul's hand. "Its odd how they paired me, a close distance fighter with Rochelle," said Saul examining the large spinning disc at the end of his hand. "I thought that they were crazy at first, I mean, not only are our personalities a complete mismatch, but our fighting styles are as well. But after a couple of practice sessions, I got it. This is one of the reasons why we were paired together."

"During Soul Resonance, Saul's Soul Wavelength starts a hurricane with me turning me from a boomerang into a buzz saw," said Rochelle, "that can be thrown or used as chopping weapon. Our Soul Resonance has the best of both worlds."

Marburg smiled as the green fog swirled around the room, growing in size and malevolence. "That sounds like fun. Let's get started then. I want to be well on the way to perfecting my powers before my brothers get a hold of me, they won't be too impressed if I'm still at this level. I'm afraid spending years inside a jar put a real damper on my powers. They don't seem to be as strong as I remember them and trust me, my brothers will certainly take notice of that. I'll have to say that they are at about forty percent now? If you want to face me at my strongest, you'll have to wait awhile."

Saul smiled. "Nice to know, but I'm afraid we are about to take you down." Saul dashed from his spot, the large disc cutting through the air at high speeds. He brought the disc down with impressive force, bringing the disc slicing into the earth beneath him. The only problem was that Marburg had dodged back barely making far enough away to avoid the devastating blow.

"Hmm," said Marburg as he looked about him, "apparently the disease isn't fast acting enough. I'll have to make a mental note to spend up the process…possibly add some irritation or maybe a fever to the mixture to make it more worthwhile. Do you prefer your temperature to be 101o or higher? I mean, I want you to be as comfortable as possible when you die a horrible death."

"I'm not big on being sick," said Saul as he charged forward, "I'm more of a die in blood, guts and gore kind of person." Saul swung his buzz saw-like weapon through the air aiming at Marburg's neck. Marburg ducked, allowing the disc to soar over his head.

"Or dying in a pool of his own vomit," said Rochelle, "whichever one comes first."

"I'll make sure to hook you up with my brother. Guts and gore is kind of his specialty," began the disease-causing witch as he dashed backwards to increase the distance in between the two of them, "you know, if you survive this fight which I seriously doubt. I could do the pool of his own vomit, however."

"No thank you," Saul was about to drive forward, but he stopped short. A sudden pain emerged in his stomach. His free hand immediately went down to his stomach, gripping it trying to calm it down. "What the hell? I didn't even eat that much this morning. Rochelle ate a lot more then me."

"You didn't need to say that aloud," said Rochelle, looking away embarrassed. "Besides it wasn't that much."

"Ah, I thought mixing Cholera into the mixture might have been a little much, you know overkill," said Marburg as he watch Saul legs slowly begin to buckle, "but now I know it reacts pretty fast in the active human body. Any bets on what disease is going to take shape next? My bet is on the Septicemia. Then again I did use an unhealthy dose of Meningitis…so its really anybody's guess."

"Damn," said Saul as he brought himself back up to a standing position, "it looks like those antibiotics that Lord Death made me take in preparation for this mission, aren't doing me any good. Looks like I swallowed medicine that tastes like crap for no real reason."

"All good medicine tastes terrible," said Marburg as he took out another small vial of a blue liquid. "I think a terribly strong fever is what I'm going for…following that up maybe I'll add a touch of diarrhea and maybe a coma-inducing infection. Any input? I mean this is the rest of your life and the human world that I'm talking about."

"Yeah right," said Saul, "Lord Death locked you up once, he'll do it again."

Marburg's eyes flashed red briefly as he breathed heavily. He quickly sneaked the vial back into his coat. "Don't you dare mention that back-stabbing bastard in my presence! I always treated him like a brother for as long as I've known him! I was expecting him to help me end the world rather then stop me, that's why I told him about it! After all, the end of the world was going to be glorious and well-deserved by your pathetic race! Each disease I created was to help put you bastards in line! Humans lived in trash heaps, I created infections so you would clean up after yourselves! Humans created medicine to sneak past my rules, I created auto-immune disease so you would learn your lesson! Humans began mating with each other every day, I created STDs to make you guys stop!

"I did everything within my power and then some to put your pathetic miserable race down the straight and narrow!" ranted Marburg, his voice rising with his anger, "I worked my ass off trying to save you guys from yourselves and how do I get repaid? You guys ignore me and continue to treat yourselves like crap! That's when I decided to work on the grand finale of all of my diseases, an unstoppable disease that would kill of the human race once and for all, but no…NO THAT'S NOT WHAT LORD DEATH WANTED! He threw me into that damn prison jar for three millennia! I can only imagine how the rest of my brothers fared…especially knowing that Lord Death, our friend, locked me away!"

"There's a reason why he did that," said Saul as he began to approach Marburg, "you know? Its because you are evil and probably insane. I mean what kind of sane, nice person wants to put an end the human race?"

"The same person who saw all of their heinous acts for the thousands of years," said Marburg as he collapsed his head into his hands, "Everything that they did. Every insane act of violence, intelligence, and even 'love'! I hated it all, but I tolerated it because my brothers said 'they'll learn, they'll become better'. But now I'm free again and I'm going to start it all over and this simplistic green fog is only the beginning! My new disease will make all the diseases in the world currently look like a cold!"

"You were the runt of the litter weren't ya?" asked Saul, "mommy and daddy never paid any real attention to you, did they? Cause I'm sensing some serious case of Attention Deficient Disorder."

"My mom was almost non-existent and my dad believed he was greatest thing ever to exist," said Marburg, "but they don't have any point in my new plan. Neither do my brothers, I wanted to destroy the planet too early apparently for either of them to get behind me." Marburg sighed and shook his head returning himself to the current fight, "Speaking of my family, have you developed any recent headaches?"

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure that's just because you haven't shut up yet," said Saul, "and as a thank you for that, how about I cut you up!" Saul leapt into the air. The large boomerang buzz saw rotating around at high speeds in his hand came crashing down into the ground far away from where Marburg was standing his. Saul's large boomerang spinning and churning the rocky floor up and into miniscule pebbles.

"I see the hallucinations are starting occur," said Marburg, "are you seeing red polka dots? I was trying to avoid those. I wanted something original." Marburg was standing a few feet away watching Saul pull Rochelle back up and out of the ground. His calm demeanor returning to him once again.

"Nope, I just see a bunch of you," said Saul as his free hand went up to his head, "its not a pretty sight. I would've preferred the red polka dots."

Maburg's face twitched. "I understand your concerns and I will take them into consideration. Too bad you'll never see my updated disease, your input will greatly influence it."

"Too bad you won't see the updated disease either cause I'm ending your life now!" shouted Saul as he tossed the buzz saw-like boomerang through the air. The boomerang swung through the air missing Marburg by a mile.

Marburg smiled as he watched the boomerang swing through the air. "You can't even tell which one is the real me. This fog is just messing around with your senses. I got to tell you I'm disappoi…" Marburg barely dodged to the side enough to avoid the boomerang as it came back around.

"Saul may be affected by your disease, but in my Weapon form I have strange immunity to your disease," said Rochelle as he reflection appeared on the spinning weapon.

Saul quickly caught her and tossed her once more, sending her flying in a completely wrong direction. Marburg turned around to face Rochelle as she flew about the air and was spinning back at him. "SAUL!" shouted Rochelle as she flew above Marburg's head. Marburg's head followed Rochelle as she flew above him and away. Suddenly he felt someone's hand jabbing into his side.

"Your hallucinogen only affects my sight, my hearing remains perfectly untainted," said Saul as his hand lit up fiercely with his Soul Wavelength. His hand pulsed as he brought it forward forcing Marburg back through the air and against the wall. Marburg fell from the wall straight to the ground, collapsing into a hopeless pile.

Saul brought his hand up and caught hold of Rochelle. "As long as Rochelle alerts me to your location by shouting my name when she is around you, I can shock you with my Soul Wavelength."

"Note to self, create a disease that disables Soul Wavelength," said Marburg as he brought himself back up to his feet. He was holding his side watching the green fog and his two opponent's carefully. "I seem to have forgotten that I am fighting two opponents. They are going to have a much wider range of strategies…too bad that's still not enough to stop me."

Marburg stretched his arms out and basked in his own green fog. "I think my full power is finally returning. After all of those years of being sealed up tight, my power has dwindled slowly to a measly thirty percent of my true power. But I think its returning…maybe a good exercise was all that I needed…thank you for this. But I'm going to need more test subjects."

"Well, hate to burst your bubble," said Saul, "but we are the only ones in the room right now. So, you'll just have to wait until we are finished with our fight." A large ball of the thick green fog began to become concentrated in Marburg's hand. Marburg tossed the green ball of fog over at Marburg.

"Saul, he's attacking!" shouted Rochelle. Saul brought Rochelle up in front of him, using her large and powerful spinning body to protect himself from Marburg's attack. "Not us! The kids!"

* * *

><p>Sorry, for the wait. I had a lot of crap to deal with. Its the midterm up at my college, so, yeah, college projects basically. Ooh, I was also the best man at a wedding talk about being busy. Anyways, on to something you guys actually care about, the story! First off, I want to apologize for the fact that I went from Marburg's fight to Foreman's fight and back to Marburg's. I want to focus on Marburg's fight, but I needed to bring the other students back into the action, so now you know. Don't forget to submit The HORSEMAN OF THE APLOCALYPSE! Those guys can be so impatient, can't they? 2012 is around the corner! Mwa ha ha ha!<p> 


	18. Chapter 17 Apocalypse Now

**The Apocalypse Begins!**

**The Unleashed Power of the Students!**

"Not us! The kids!" shouted Rochelle. Her words echoed in the domed room attracting the attention of the other combatants. Foreman, Iblis, Michael, Melody, and Ash all turned their heads to notice the large green ball of fog sailing at them. Iblis quickly created a powerful draft upwards to send herself careening out of harm's way.

Melody didn't know what to do. Her legs felt frozen from fear. The large ball of green fog had so much magic imbued in. It was like watching a train heading straight for her at full speed. What could she do to avoid such a powerful attack? From the looks of Michael and Ash they were thinking the same thing. Their legs also seemed glued to the spot. They all cringed and awaited the inevitable impact of the possibly deadly green fog.

It felt as if an eternity passed, all of them standing perfectly still in terror of the witch that supposedly rivaled both Kishins and Lord Death in might, but in reality only a few seconds passed. Then a few more seconds. Then more. Ash was the first open his eyes to see what had happened, why the impact of the green fog hadn't occurred. "No…"

Standing in front of them, close to the green fog was Saul. His arms outstretched, he was using Rochelle as another part of a shield that had protected the kids from the green fog. The ball of green fog had exploded on impact with him, sparing the kids from the dangerous onslaught.

"Looks like…some people just never learn…their lessons, eh Delilah?" asked Saul as he collapsed onto the floor in front of the kids. Rochelle clattered to the ground as well. Her weapon form, not to mention her Death Scythe strength, had shielded her from the deadly effects of the green fog before, but this heavily concentrated ball of green fog even took her strength away. The boomerang lit up in a brilliant red light as it changed back into the young woman.

"SAUL!" shouted Shi as the small yo-yo's reflection opened its eyes. This caused the rest of the group to open their eyes and witness the sight. A collective group of gasp was heard in the room.

"Saul?" asked May, halfway expecting this to be another one of his sick jokes. Faking his death in front of his students just to get a small sigh of relief when they see him jump up after a few seconds.

"Rochelle?" said Melody as she watched the former weapon lie on the ground. Her nearly unblemished slightly dark skin wasn't like that at all anymore. Her skin had become a pale sickly hue and red dots covered her face and arms. Her eyes were firmly shut and her small pinkish lips had dried up and were curved inward.

Ash shook himself free from his spot ad ran forward to his two dying teachers. The green fog was meant for a single burst, not to stay around after, so it had safely lifted from the air around them. Ash dove to the ground and quickly pressed two finger against their necks next to a major blood vessel. He sighed with relief, "they are alive…for now, but I don't know how long they will last without medical attention."

"Or with three witches staring us down," said Michael as he glanced from side to side at the three witches who were standing around them looking at them with greedy eyes as if they were vultures eyeing the last piece of carrion.

"Guess that means we'll just have to take these punks out quickly then," stated Xander as Ash stood up and faced Iblis.

"Out or respect for the soon-to-be dead," said Foreman as he looked down at Saul and Rochelle both lying motionlessly, "I will let you guys have the option to leave if you do not attack me or Marburg. However, I'm going to have to insist that they stay here so Marburg can finish up his experiment."

"Hey!" shouted Iblis, "what about me! You'll let them leave here alive even if they killed me!"

"It's a matter of respect," said Foreman, "and I respect three little kids who attack an all powerful witch despite the fact that their teacher is dead more then…" Foreman's line was cut short as Ash drove Xander's blade straight through his stomach and out the other side of his clay dummy.

"You can keep your damn respect," said Ash quietly, "I'M OUT FOR REVENGE!" Ash spun about and launched a powerful kick straight to Foreman's head sending the damaged marionette spinning about across the floor until it finally crashed against stopping its spin. Its head was now caved in, its gut had a hole in it big enough for a fully grown man to stick his arm into, and the life had disappeared from its eyes.

"Yeah," shouted Xander, "this is an Ash that I like! Gut him again!" His reflection was shown in the newly bloodied blade cheering Ash on, as if he had already forgotten about his two teacher lying on the ground.

"Serves that bastard right!" shouted Iblis with a cocky laugh, "saying that I don't deserve his respect! Hah, it looks like you both dead and old, how much respect do you get now! NONE!" shouted Iblis she walked over to him, a large glob of spit hanging from her mouth. She launched it at full speed. It splattered all over his face. "Now! That my vendetta against that arrogant old guy is finished which one of you is going to occupy my time?"

Iblis blinked her eyes. The little girl who was standing in the middle of the three before was gone. She looked over at Marburg, apparently the little girl had believed she could take him on. What fool-hearted heroism. Iblis turned her eyes on Michael, "apparently its going to be you and me."

"Did you forget about little old me!" shouted Ash as he jumped up ready to fight. "I'm still alive and kicking!"

"ASH!" shouted Michael, "don't forget about Saul and Rochelle, you said it yourself they are still alive. Go find a mirror or something and contact Lord Death to get him to send a helicopter or something down here!"

Ash reluctantly spared a second look over his shoulder and down at Saul and Rochelle. He could faintly make out their chests rising and falling. He bit his tongue and turned around and began to head out the door in order to make the call. "If she's not dead by the time I get back, I'll take care of her for you!"

"Trust me," said Michael calmly as he turned around and faced Iblis, "she'll be dead. May?"

"You betcha," said May, "time to pierce her soul with our…"

"SOUL RESONANCE!" shouted the two in unison. May's bow form began to glow violently. The glowing light began to creep up Michael's arm and around the rest of his body.

"First time we used Soul Resonance out in the field," said Michael.

"Its going to be the first time we killed a witch using Soul Resonance out in the field, too," said May slyly.

"More like the first time you got killed while using Soul Resonance!" shouted Iblis as she conjured up another powerful wave of air that seemed to circle around her body. "You shoot a thousand arrows, I'll just deflect them all!"

"No problem," said Michael as he aimed May directly for Iblis' head, "cause that means another 113 will still pierce your heart." Michael released the bow sending multiple arrows all howling through the air aimed at Iblis. The arrows hit the powerful bubble of air that was wrapped around Iblis' body, they began to bounce off by being repelled by the powerful gusts of wind circling her.

"Hah ha!" shouted Iblis as she stood amidst the powerful winds, "you can't even touch me. You should've gotten in a cheap shot like your friend did against Foreman! I'm nearly invincible now that my power has returned to its max! There's no way you can get in a single shot against me in the time you have!"

"Look again," said Michael with a smile, "the center of the mass of arrows."

Iblis shrugged it off and stared at the center. Because of the raining continuous onslaught of arrows she couldn't have noticed that single arrow, but now she did. That one single arrow was way too close for comfort. Whenever a gust of wind blew it to the side it would rebound into one of the ones next to it and be redirected down the center and back down its original path. Iblis smiled though now that she knew where it was it would be simple to dismiss it! Iblis summoned forth a huge wind and slammed it to the side. Sending the arrow careening to the side and into the wall, puncturing a small hole in it just like the others.

"Told you, you can't touch me!" shouted Iblis, "Neither you nor your puny arrows can lay a finger on me!"

"What about the ceiling?" asked May, her reflection had on a cocky and surefire smile across it.

Iblis looked around her. The numerous arrows had all pierced the wall, each one jutting into the wall creating a small hole. One on top of the other until the holes basically became a straight line up and down. The same thing occurred with the ceiling. In her frenzy to redirect all of the arrows away from her she had destroyed the stability of the walls behind and the ceiling above her. She only had enough time to look up and see the ceiling collapse upon her. Her wind was nowhere near strong enough to repel such a heavy force. She let out an air piercing yell as the ceiling drove straight down, bring her smack down into the floor beneath it.

"That's what I'd call a sandwitch," said May taking the opportunity to make a small pun.

"I'm sorry what?" said Michael, "I don't get it."

"Because the ceiling and the floor are like the slices of bread and Iblis, the witch, is like…oh, forget its not funny if I have to explain it," said May.

"It wasn't funny in the first place either," said Michael.

"Instead of talking about this shouldn't we help Melody?" asked May.

"Right," said Michael. He turned around and was about to take a step forward but something was holding his feet in place.

"I'm not done playing you, yet," said a female voice.

(-With Melody and Shi-)

"HOW DARE YOU!" shouted Melody as she lashed out using Shi's metallic blade. The small compact yo-yo was completely caught on fire that it appeared to be more of a ball of flames on the end of a strong rather then a small toy with metal blades jutting out of it. Marburg easily dodged the attack by backing up a few feet as he watched the burning blades pass right in front of his eyes.

"Really?" asked Marburg as he stood back, "Saul and Rochelle. A brilliant Meister and a Death Scythe couldn't even wound me, but you? A female who barely hit puberty and a…I'm sorry what exactly are you supposed to be? Are you a male with an IQ of seven or a female with an IQ of seven?"

"Doesn't matter!" shouted Shi, "I'm still going to kill you for killing Saul before I could beat the crap out of him!" The large blade extruding from the yo-yo came down merely inches away from Marburg's left shoulder.

"Shi!" shouted Melody, "he could've just killed our teachers! And you are upset with him because you didn't get to beat them up? Be serious at a time like this!" Melody spun around and launched Shi outwards. Shi's long yo-yo string wrapped around Marburg's legs, pinning him to one spot.

"I AM!" shouted Shi as his yo-yo form closed in on Marburg's legs about to get the first hit. With the string so tight, there was no way Marburg could avoid this attack…or so Shi thought.

Marburg chuckled. A large gust of green fog exploded around him forcing Shi's string to loosen up and allow him to escape from Melody's and Shi's attack. Marburg leapt up into the air. "I think you two are already sick. You two must be completely delirious if you think you can even stand a chance against me!" Marburg lifted his hand into the air. More of the green fog began to billow around it creating a large dense bubble of air. "I think its time for you to witness what truly makes me a witch to be feared!" As Marburg reeled back about to toss the impressive ball of deadly toxins it began to flicker. The bubble began to bulge at weird and random places. Finally it exploded in place covering Marburg in the green fog.

"What!" shouted Marburg as he stepped back. He snapped his fingers trying to create a second ball of fog, but it wouldn't work the fog just wasn't leaking out of his body any more. "What did you two do to me?"

* * *

><p>Yosh! I'm back on track…for the most part. Anyways, I have to say this was probably one of my favorite chapters to write for this story thus far. I even left in a few special surprises hinting at future chapters for those of you people who are looking! Normally I would go into my somewhat stupid jokes and hints, but this time since tragedy was so heavy in this chapter, I'm going to take a moment of silence…<p>

Also a quick question. May's sandwitch pun? Yea or nay? I actually kind of liked it.

Another question: I've been thinking about changing the name of the story where its less Michael-centric. Any ideas?


	19. Chapter 18 Sending the SOS

**Sending the S.O.S.!**

"Yes?" asked Lord Death as Ash's face appeared in his mirror. Ash's face was covered with sweat from the long jog. He was in the middle of a deserted temple the chances of him finding a mirror to call Lord Death with was slim.

"Hang on a minute," panted Ash as he tried to catch his breath. He was lucky that he finally managed to get a hold of Lord Death. He wanted to stop and quickly turn back around to help Melody and Michael, but Michael was right. Getting medical attention for Saul and Rochelle were top priority, not to mention that if Lord Death sent another Death Scythe and their partner it would be considered a blessing.

"Can you please hurry it up," asked Lord Death as he produced a small yellow rubber duck. "I was about to get ready for my bubble bath." He was cooped up in his room all day, without much to do his baths quickly became important for him to work on.

"Xander…you take over…" finished Ash as he buckled over, but he was wary to keep his pants off of the dust covered ground. He didn't want to get his pants dirty before facing off against a witch-like Marburg. Xander lit up and transformed back into his human form and stood in front of Ash.

"Lord Death! You got to hurry up and send in a medical team for Saul and Rochelle! Marburg has somehow infected them with a potentially lethal virus," spat Xander rushing through his words in a panicked state.

"Okay!" piped Lord Death as he held his hands up into the air, "do you need me to send in any reinforcements to help deal with Marburg?" Lord Death's tone quickly switched from his normal playful tone to a dead serious monotone voice.

"Nah!" boasted Xander, "as soon as me and Ash get our butts back into the room and fighting Marburg, you can guarantee yourself that you'd have yourself one dead witch by the end of the day!" Xander pumped his arm up for emphasis.

"So, I'll send in one Death Scythe and their partner, along with a medical crew," commented Lord Death as he turned around and began to walk away.

"Didn't you hear me?" shouted Xander, "we don't need no stinkin' Death Scythe and their partner!" Xander began to pound against the small handheld mirror that Ash had found from one of the hypnotized people guarding the temple.

"Right! I'll send in one Death Scythe and their partner, along with a medical crew," repeated Lord Death paying no heed to Xander or his rants.

"LORD DEATH!" shouted Xander, but he stopped as Ash put his hand onto his shoulder.

"Let's just go in there and finish Marburg off before they even get here," said Ash calmly. Xander nodded. He began to glow again. The light wrapped quickly around Ash's hand forming the powerful bladed gauntlet. They dropped the mirror, letting it shatter into a million pieces, and they were on their way back to the room.

Lord Death was still on the line, standing in front of the mirror in his room. He sighed. "Should I take my bath first? Or should I send them the reinforcements first?" Death sighed again. "Looks like my bath will have to wait."

(-With Michael and May-)

Michael directed his gaze downwards. The little witch, Spectra, had her hands firmly wrapped around his foot. Her tiny twig like arms contained the same superior strength it seemed that all witches possessed. Most of her body sunken beneath the earth floor and only her hands out in open, leaving her with almost no openings.

"Spectra is still upset at Michael for shooting her," cried Spectra, safely from her spot beneath the rocky floor. "Michael is just one big meanie!"

"Hey, now," Michael said calmly trying to explain, "I understand that you are mad…"

"Jerk-face," cried Spectra again.

"but you got to understand…"

"Poo-poo head!"

"we were in a rush. Our friend was in mortal danger and we…"

"Ass!"

"WHO THE HELL TAUGHT YOU THAT WORD!" shouted Michael as he brought his bow around and aimed it at her hands.

"Michael!" shouted May, "you can't yell and curse at her and then aim a weapon at her! She's just a little kid!" Her reflection turned back on Michael glaring harshly at him.

"What about her?" reasoned Michael, "she just cursed at me! She called me an meanie, a jerk-face, a poo-poo head, and then an ass! I think I'm allowed to point my bow at her!"

May's reflection calmed down for a brief second and then it quickly flared up again as she returned to glaring at Michael, "that's no excuse! We are supposed to be the grown-ups in this situation! We are supposed to take care of her and nurture her!"

"And your talking bow is a hussy!"

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU CALL ME!" shouted May, "MICHAEL SHOOT THAT GIRL FOR CALLING ME SOMETHING LIKE THAT! SHOOT HER!"

"But we are supposed to be the grown-ups in this situation. We are supposed to take care of her and nurture her," repeated Michael calmly at this point just trying to irritate May by using her own words against her, "or at least that was what someone told me a couple of minutes ago? Who was it again?"

"Yes," muttered May, "but that was before she called me a hussy. When a man is insulted it is his job to take it in stride and walk away, but when a woman is insulted it is the man's job to SHOOT THE PERSON WHO INSULTED HER!"

"Ah, right!" commented Michael, "I knew there was a reason why we are partners." Michael aimed his bow downwards at Spectra's physical hands and fired a single shot. Spectra quickly removed her hands from Michael's foot and dove into the ground disappearing into the thick floor. Michael's shot, however, didn't disappear. The shot flew forward and drove itself into his foot.

"SHIT!" shouted Michael as he leapt up and quickly grabbed his foot, "I forgot how much being shot by you hurts!" Michael gritted his teeth together as he endured the pain. His golem body protects Michael from most damage like that from a boomerang or running into a wall, but Michael's arrow (being constructed of soul wavelength) has an effect on him due to the fact that it hurts his soul rather then his body.

"Ha ha!" laughed Spectra from beneath the floor, "serves you right! Spectra is the best! Spectra is the best!" Spectra continued to sing her own praises.

"Yeah, right," said Michael as he stood up, "you let go of my foot which means I can go help Melody!" Michael quickly put his foot down and broke out into a mad dash for Melody who was busy fighting off Marburg and from the looks of it losing. A sudden and strong tug on Michael's foot sent him sailing back down towards the ground smashing him face first into the hard stone floor.

Michael twisted about as much as he could just to see Spectra's hands wrapped once again tightly around his leg. "Spectra's not done playing with you, yet!"

(-With Melody and Shi-)

"My powers have vanished!" shouted Marburg as he tried once again to summon a cloud of deadly fog, but despite his effort he could only summon a wisp of smoke from both of his hands. Probably not even enough to inflict the common cold on an infant. "What have you done to my power?" Marburg charged forward. He sent a spiraling kick outwards at Melody. Melody dodged backwards effortlessly. The breeze of the kick didn't even touch her.

Despite all of his boasts and his incredible magic prowess, Marburg had still been locked away in the Prison Jar for thousands of years. His strength hadn't diminished at all, but a lot changes over thousands of years especially martial arts. Most structured martial arts weren't present three thousand years ago and those that were weren't nearly as advanced as today's modern forms. Marburg had all the strength to become an effective fighter, but when it comes to skill Melody had fought opponents whose skills far outweigh that of Marburg. His attack were basically barbaric. A number of basic punches and kicks, but that was the limit of his attack vocabulary.

"No magic, huh?" asked Melody as she swung out with Shi. His little yo-yo form snaked out from her hand and wrapped himself firmly around Marburg's leg. "Then this will be an easy fight!" Melody swung backwards using all of her and Shi's combined strength to toss Marburg into the air. Shi's burning body was still alight during the toss, burning into Marburg's leg all the way throughout the throw.

Marburg grimaced, but he quickly reacted. He bent over and grasped hold of Shi's string. He tugged on it forcing Melody from her spot and across the air herself, not as far as Marburg would fly, but enough to force her off of her feet. Marburg landed carefully back on the ground, maintaining his balance. Melody quickly flipped back onto her feet, her eyes never leaving Marburg nor his movements.

Melody spared a quick glance over her shoulders and back at Rochelle and Saul. Rochelle's face was twisted in agony, her bottom lip quivering slowly, she was in pain. At this point, though, that was a good sign. Being in pain meant that you were still alive. Saul, laid motionless across the ground, his body riddled with the red bumps that Marburg had inflicted, his nails and skin had both turned a sickly yellowish-green color. Rochelle was still alive, that much was evident, but was Saul?

"Don't take your eyes off of me girl!" commanded Marburg as he shot forward, firing a single concise punch at Melody. Melody, being temporarily distracted because she checked on Saul's body, hadn't had any time to react. Marburg's fist slammed into her face knocking her down to the ground.

"Come on, Melody!" encouraged Shi, his image appearing in the yo-yo, "you can beat him, just think! Think of way to beat this guy there has got to be something in this room that you can use to beat him!"

Melody got up as quickly as she could. Shi was right. There had to be something in the room that she could use to beat Marburg. He was a witch without magic, a fighter without skills, a warrior without a weapon! There had to be some easy way to beat him, she just had to think of it, but she couldn't! She couldn't get her mind off of Rochelle and Saul, who were both barely holding in there. How was she supposed to focus on this witch when someone was two minutes away from dying and she could do nothing to help them?

Another quick blow from Marburg rammed into Melody, this time into her gut, sending her careening backwards away from him. Marburg smiled. He was in complete control of this fight and his ego commanded him to flaunt it. He wasn't attacking Melody while she was down out of respect like Forman would have, he wasn't attacking because he was savoring the complete power he had over her.

"Would you like me to end this my dear?" asked Marburg as he lifted his foot up and positioned it perfectly above her head, "it would only take one quick and swift kick to your skull from this position to cause a massive hemorrhage in the head that would kill you in seconds. In case you don't know a hemorrhage is a massive leakage of blood. You'd die from blood loss in a few seconds, but guess what? The blood will still be in your body, I'd just be relocating it to the inside of your skull!"

Marburg was about to bring his foot down when an arrow whizzed through the air and stabbed in brutally. Marburg let out a brief whine as he brought the his foot away from Melody's head. Melody lashed upwards with her yo-yo sending the small device careening into his chin. Maburg's eyes flashed violently as he stared over in Michael's direction.

"Being shot in the foot hurts, doesn't it?" mocked Michael as he remained in his spot. Originally he had to get closer to Marburg and Melody to make the shot, due to Spectra holding him in place, but due to Marburg's rather uncontrolled and random attacks, he had positioned himself close enough to Michael, where he could one or two quick shots in.

Marburg's eyes grew wide and a smile spread across his face. He had found someone to replenish his source of magic with. "Little girl, is your name Spectra?"

* * *

><p>YES! It is I! A recent escapee from an insane asylum! (Not really…or as far as you know *wink*. No, seriously, I haven't ESCAPED from an insane asylum…not yet…NO! I haven't been to an insane asylum at all! Then again that would explain why this chapter is a little bit late…)<p>

Anyways, onto the things most of you guys care about. Yes…I purposely ended the chapter there just to annoy you. I'm like a real manga writer! Back to the subject at hand, this arc is coming to a close…I can only see two, maybe three more chapters in store for it. After this something new will happen…what? I have no idea…but rest assured I will think of it!

P.S. I'm still looking for a new title that will hopefully fit more characters then Michael.

P.S.S. (or is it P.P.S.?) The reason why I should kind of crazy (yes, just 'kind-of') is because we had a recent power outage and a gallon or so of ice cream melted…guess whose job it is to clean it up! Ice cream soup!


	20. Chapter 19 A Witch's Recharge

**A Witch's Recharge!**

"Being shot in the foot hurts, doesn't it?" mocked Michael as he remained in his spot. Originally he had to get closer to Marburg and Melody to make the shot, due to Spectra holding him in place, but due to Marburg's rather uncontrolled and random attacks, he had positioned himself close enough to Michael, where he could one or two quick shots in.

Marburg's eyes grew wide and a smile spread across his face. He had found someone to replenish his source of magic with. "Little girl, is your name Spectra?"

Spectra looked up from her spot, firmly attached to Michaels' foot, and over at Marburg, "Ye-yes," stuttered Spectra. Was this the witch Foreman, Iblis, and Grecko were trying to reawaken? Spectra's eyes remained locked on Marburg as he smiled. Despite the friendly smile and the nicest of introductions, Spectra could just feel the dangerous aura that surrounded him. It wasn't even like she was surrounded in water either, his aura was more like rock. As if his aura was encasing everyone around him in a marble coat. It was thick, heavy, and suffocating.

"Come here," commanded Marburg while curling and uncurling his index finger. Despite his almost honey-like tone and pleasant disposition it was obvious that it was a command and should be treated as such.

"Ye-yes sir," replied Spectra, despite the fact that she didn't want to. The terrified portion of her brain was commanding and taking over the reasonable portion of her brain, that told her to run and never stop running. She was under Marburg's complete and total control thought Spectra as she slowly began to slide from her spot and over to Marburg.

"NOW!" shouted Marburg, his voice rising with anger. Spectra whimpered, but began to slider faster over to Marburg, her fear propelling her forward with great speed. Marburg smiled, he reached outwards about to grasp Spectra's little head when he felt a sudden and powerful blow to the side of his head. Marburg was lifted off of his feet and into the air. His body was carried sideways by the force of the unexpected blow, he collapsed onto the floor.

Ash landed carefully onto the ground his fist, with Xander's heavy metal gauntlet supporting it, had smashed into Marburg's face, forcing him away from Spectra, while inflicting one nasty wound, "Whatever you guys do, we cannot let him get a hold of her!" shouted Ash, he wasn't sure how Marburg was planning to do it, but he knew that they shouldn't let it happen under any circumstances.

"Why?" asked Xander, "what do we care about if Marburg embraces the little girl, I don't care if the old man is pedophile. He's dead either way." His reflection in the blade was the epitome of arrogance and ignorance.

"He is not a…" began Ash before he froze thinking about Xander's use of word, "he is not a pedophile. Remember what Iblis mentioned? She mentioned something about feeling drained after spending some time releasing Marburg from the Prison Jar. Then the Prison Jar sealed his magic away, my guess is about 3000 years in a jar without nourishment didn't exactly aid his magic reproduction. Chances are he simply drained magic from Iblis, Foreman, and the other witch…so now he's planning on recharging."

"We go from shooting a little girl to shooting an old man," muttered Michael as he looked over in Marburg's direction as the witch once again rose to his feet, "man, are our morals screwed up." Michael sighed as he lifted his bow back up and carefully aimed at Marburg.

May's reflection grimaced, "its not like its our fault…they both attacked us first…besides now we are protecting a little girl!" She tried to reason with their rather barbaric and somewhat twisted approach to this dilemma.

"Say what you want," said Shi as Melody sent the yo-yo driving for Marburg's feet. Marburg jumped backwards and upwards avoiding the spinning blades as it swept beneath him. "I'm not interested in protecting the little girl," continued Shi as he recoiled back to Melody's had, "I'm just interested in kicking this guy's ass."

Marburg cackled as he looked down upon his new opponents, "really? You think you'll be able to 'kick my ass'? What stupidity! But don't worry I'll CURE you of your stupidity once and for all once I am fully recharged." Marburg returned his attention to Spectra, "Spectra! Get over here now!" Spectra's eyes widened with fear, as once again she began her slow approach to Marburg.

"Not so fast!" shouted Melody. Shi's flaming string shot down the path in between Spectra and Marburg. The blazing barrier successfully keeping them separated from each other. Marburg grimaced as he saw Spectra flinch backwards at the insanely powerful and scorching flames before him.

"Never mind!" shouted Marburg, "if you won't come to me, I'll go to you!" He sent himself flying from his spot over to Spectra.

Ash jumped into Marburg's path, blocking him. "How sweet of you," mocked Xander, "you saved us the trouble of going over to you to knock you out!" Ash brought his arm and straight down on top Marburg's head, smashing Marburg into the rocky terrain below.

"Pesky little insects!" shouted Marburg as he brought his body back up with amazing speed. He reached out and gripped Ash's throat. "Can't you just sit still and wait for me to infect you! Its like watching kids fight over who was first in the line for the coliseum, you are all going to see a man die anyways so stop annoying me!" Marburg began to slowly tighten his grip on Ash's throat as he watched him squirm.

"GET…YOUR DIRTY HANDS…OFF OF MY PARTNER!" shouted Xander as the gauntlet lit up once again. The metal gauntlet transformed into a Xander's human form, Xander quickly brought his leg around into Marburg's face. Marburg laughed it off.

Marburg's hand soon shot out once more and wrapped itself around Xander's throat, "a weapon that thought that he could actually harm me? Did you fall asleep in the class that your obviously terrible teacher taught you that weapons are weaker then meisters? If your partner couldn't harm me, what makes you think you can!"

"What about this!" shouted Michael as he let another arrow fly through the air and into Marburg's cheek. Marburg remained perfectly still even as the arrow began to burrow into his face and disappear.

"What about what?" asked Marburg as he turned his attention to Michael, "your Soul Wavelengths are nothing in comparison to your teachers and even he wound up short. Even together you have no hope of inflicting any real wound." Marburg smiled as he tossed both Xander and Ash aside and onto the ground. He bent down and grabbed onto Shi's string, regardless of the flames. He grimaced in pain, his weakened body was still being affected by such attacks, but he ignored it. He lifted the burning string above his head and reached past it, finally grabbing hold of Spectra.

"Finally…you will all be plagued by this failure for years to come…considering I don't kill you all!" A white light began flowing off of Spectra. The white light shot of her body, almost immediately transforming into luminescent light green aura. This light green aura shot right back into Marburg's body, refueling his body.

"Don't you just hate it in a video game when you almost kill the bad guy and then he just heals himself again?" said Ash as he watched Marburg's body become a glow with the new green energy.

"I don't what you are talking about," said Xander, "Cause I actually got a life. I don't sit around and play video games like you." Ash shot Xander an annoyed look.

Another green ball of fog began to gather in Marburg's right hand while his left hand still held onto Spectra who he was still draining. He smiled as he eyed each of the students individually. "Such a sad ending for you all. If the circumstances were different, we may have actually have been friends…too bad I'll have to kill you all."

"Looks like you just got a big ball of gas to me," mocked Shi, although he knew full well of how dangerous that thing was. "And why the hell would we be your friend, you big worthless bag of…" Shi was going to continue but Melody interrupted him.

"Don't worry," reassured Melody, "based on his last throw, we can probably assume it won't explode until it hits something so as long as we dodge it, we should be safe." Not only that but Saul was able to intercept it meaning that its speed probably wasn't so great.

"Of course," said Marburg, "compare my last wimpy ball of fog to this one. I'll tell you this much, the power I had before is nothing compared to the power I have now."

"Yeah, right," stated Melody, still fuming at Marburg because of her teachers' deaths, "last time you sucked magic out of Iblis, Foreman, and a third witch…you expect us to fear you when you are sucking it out of a little witch? It makes no sense…three witches have more power then one."

"Wrong," boomed Marburg, "before I had to leave Foreman, Iblis, and Grecko with enough energy to be able to transport me out of here…so I drained about 50% of each of their energy…however, that idea has flown the coop…so I decided to drain 99.9% of young Spectra's energy…she'll still live, but she probably won't wake up for about a month. Finally, you forgot to factor in the fact that she is a younger witch…she is still at the peak age of magic to be flowing into her body…she has more magic stored in her body then Foreman, Iblis, and Grecko did!" Spectra let out another scream of agony as the color drained from her face.

A flurry of arrows shot through the air all of them aimed at Marburg. They all drove through the air and pounded into Marburg forcing him backwards, but his grip on Spectra didn't diminish. Michael quickly created another salvo of arrows and aimed at Marburg again, "drop the girl."

Marburg smiled as he eyed the archer and the bow, both of them staring confidently at him. "Wanna fight?" asked Marburg, "I already showed you what I could do…" another arrow whizzed through the air and sliced at his cheek, "not even going to let me…" a third arrow this time it inched closer to the center of his face.

"He said 'drop the girl'," reiterated May, sternly, "if you don't do as he say we're going to keep shooting you." Michael loaded another arrow and carefully aimed for Marburg's face.

"You can shoot at me all you like," invited Marburg, "but its not going to change a single thing…" another arrow came loose from Michael's bow, flying straight for Marburg. This time Marburg dodged to the side, letting the arrow skim past him. If he hadn't had dodged the arrow would've shot him in the eye.

"Can't make your eyes any tougher then anybody else's," explained Melody, "it was either dodge or have eyeball shish kabob."

Marburg turned his attention to Melody about to speak, but as soon as he did he immediately turned his attention to Ash and Xander as they made a clean slash with their blade. Marburg jerked his arm upwards, but he couldn't avoid the blade completely. The blade made contact with Marburg's arm, slicing it open and leaving it with a nasty wound, but not severing it like planned.

"Shit," cursed Marburg as he examined his left arm, "trying to distract me where you can slice my arm open and force me to drop Spectra? Tsk, tsk, tsk…I guess Foreman was right…you guys truly have no respect…" Marburg smashed the large green ball of fog that was floating in his right arm. The ball exploded filling the room with the same noxious gas that infected Saul.

"Shit," coughed Melody, "guys hold your breath." Melody began spinning her yo-yo around her in her the air, trying to create a whirlwind to blow the fog away from her. But the fog was thick and heavy and remained floating in the air, probably due to its magical properties.

"That's not working," muttered Ash, "I guess our only option is to knock him out before this gas does the same thing to us as it did Saul." Ash charged forward at Marburg, he made a single punching motion bringing his fist through the fog and at Marburg's arm once again. Marburg jerked his arm back almost instinctively as he brought his right leg around. Marburg smashed his right leg into Ash's side, kicking him to the side. Ash quickly returned to his feet.

Michael fired a single round of fast shots at Marburg. Marburg dodged each arrow with the utmost grace and speed. Marburg grinned widely as he dashed forward, closing the gap between himself and golem archer. Marburg quickly struck out with the palm of his hand slamming it into Michael's chest, forcing the air out of his body. Michael fell backwards, gasping for breath in the poison-filled room.

May was flung out of Michael's hand and her bow chimed against the stone floor as she let out a horror-filled scream, "MICHAEL!"

* * *

><p>AHEM! That was fun. Well, for me and the readers at least. Michael, May, Melody, Shi, Ash, Xander, Saul, Rochelle, and Spectra, probably felt that this was one of the worst days of their lives. Well, unless one of them is masochist (like Ash maybe? Nah, he's not…or at least as far as I know). Be prepared this arc ends here! (Here being the next chapter, or maybe the one after that).<p>

Also, I'm thinking about adding a fourth pair to the group. Any thoughts?


	21. Chapter 20 Enter Quill!

**Enter Quill!**

**The Blind Leading the Students!**

May was flung out of Michael's hand and her bow chimed against the stone floor as she let out a horror-filled scream, "MICHAEL!"

Marburg smiled as he curled his fingers into a fist. A menacing look crossed his face, "as far as annoyance levels go that kid was the worst. He kept shooting arrows at me. They didn't hurt that bad, but its just rude." Marburg turned his attention back to the other two.

Melody kept her eyes on Marburg. Marburg probably had very little knowledge about golems, Michael may breathe, eat, and sleep like a normal human, but he had no technical body to infect. He was probably still alive…but a small part of his infection had to infect something else. Rochelle was forced out of weapon form and became sick due to a concentrated blast of that fog, so its possible that it affects non-breathing objects as well.

"May, stay in your weapon form!" shouted Ash. He had also put together a similar hypothesis as Melody did, but he was less sure of Michael's well being. Marburg's infection was an evolved strain of several diseases at least one of them had to have harmed him. Not to mention that the force of Marburg's attack had probably done severe psychological damage to him, there was no telling if he would even wake up again.

A large explosion appeared in the corner of the room as an entire wall was knocked down due to an incredibly powerful slash. "I'm sorry I'm a bit late, couldn't find my way here," stated a man as he slowly walked into the room brandishing a large claymore on his back.

"Quill, we really need to start working on getting here fast…after all I see…one, two, three! Three people down for the count," said the claymore. Despite the claymore's impressive three feet size, it wasn't all that intimidating. Why? It was pink. Neon pink. It also had a bright pink chain that extended from the hilt that lead to a bright neon pink ball, allowing to become a multi-purpose weapon, but its color lead many people to look down on it.

"Holy crap! A man with a pink blade! He's even more girly then you Ash!" shouted Xander as his reflection burst into a fit of laughter on his blade at the sight.

"Really?" asked Quill as he picked his claymore up and looked at it up close, "nobody ever told me that my blade was pink for before. I really wish I would've known that sooner." Quill waved it around for a few seconds examining it.

"Nobody should have to tell you that your weapon is pink," stated Melody. Suddenly Quill brought his sword with decent speed and power, aiming it directly at Melody. Melody let out a screech of fear.

"YOU! Vile demon! How dare you attack and injure multiple personels of the Shibusen!" shouted Quill as he waved his sword around at Melody, "how do you plead to these accusation against you?"

"Uh…Quill," said the claymore, "you are pointing it at the wrong person. That's a student. Move it a little to the left," Quill slowly started to move the blade to the left, "there! That's him!"

"Ahem…thank you, Clare. Now let me start over," began Quill before Marburg interrupted him.

"I'm guilty of it!" shouted Marburg as he stared up at the incredibly dumb man, "I took down all three of them and they are all going to die. So, I hope you knew them well in this life!"

"…oh, um…most people plead innocent the first time," began Quill, "so I really don't know how to proceed from this point…can you, um, you know, go back and say that you are innocent?"

Marburg looked quizzically at the foolish man, "sure?" said Marburg, even though more like a question then an answer, "I'm innoce…"

"LIAR!" shouted Quill as he waved his blade about in the air, "you are indeed guilty of harming my fellow peers of the DWMA, so I shall take it upon myself to act like your judge, jury, and executioner! Now, I ask you again how do you plead?"

Marburg stared up at Quill, patiently, "what exactly is it that you want me to say?" asked Marburg, "I've got a plague to spread and people to kill and I'm already behind schedule."

"You can say anything you want," stated Quill as he brought Clare down and aimed it at Marburg, "I'm still going to turn you and your fellow witches into a bloody mess."

"There are no other witches in here," pointed out Clare to her obviously blind partner, "the kids must've managed to knock them out." A smile spread across Clare's face showing her pride in the students of the DWMA. "I think we should start with the actual combat. His location is 9, 90, 90."

"Right!" shouted Quill as he dashed forward. Marburg chuckled, a blind swordsman and a pink claymore? Could they really pose such a threat to him? Marburg quickly found out that they could. Quill brought the ridiculously colored sword down on top of Marburg, Marburg jumped back avoiding the slash, but just barely, the white robe he 'borrowed' from Grecko was cut from the explosive downwards chop.

"3, 125, 140!" commanded Clare. Quill made a slight pivot to the right, charged forward about three feet and slashed upwards making another close cut near Marburg. Marburg jumped backwards trying to avoid the blow, but couldn't. Quill brought the blade slicing into Marburg's skin. Marburg let out a screech as he kicked off of Quill, knocking the blind man down and propelling him backwards.

Marburg was bewildered. He had fought four consecutive meisters and their weapons and they all had barely scratched, but a blind man with a stupid looking weapon had actually drawn blood? True, Marburg was holding back and wasn't expecting a real fight, so his guard was lowered slightly, but it didn't make sense.

"7, 70, 90!" declared Clare. Quill nodded and was off once again, Marburg jumped to the side, "correction! 5, 40, 110!" Quill quickly made a left turn, positioning himself in front of Marburg, another few steps forward and a sweeping blow in the air and he had successfully landed a second blow onto Marburg, knocking the poor witch back down to the ground.

Marburg cursed himself. His guard was dropped and the man was making no effort to waste it, but he was slowly putting together how his attacks were so accurate. Clare, the weapon, was giving him commands. The first number was the number of steps Quill had to make to get to Marburg. Then the second number was the angle that Marburg was at from him (using a mathematical number. A 90 was directly in front of him, a 0 was directly to the left of him, and 180 was directly to the right of him.) The third number was the angle in the air. (A 0 would be directly below Quill, a 180 directly above him, and a 90 is straight in the middle).

Ordinarily, such a fighting style would be rough and unorthodox. After all they'd be that slight delay in action as the weapon tells the meister where and how to move, but these two had gotten so accustomed to it, the fighting style is very fluid and almost instantaneous. There was no hindrance due to Quill's handicap like Marburg was originally planning. It was similar to hustling. Quill would make his blindness obvious when he meets his opponent, where his opponent would drop his guard, and then Clare and Quill show off their equal level of fighting prowess.

Not to mention the fighting style also switches on certain commands. Clare can either say 'Dodge to the left' (forcing Quill to dodge to the left) or 'attack on the right' (where Quill would be able to dodge in any direction of his choice). The first option is Clare's fighting style, the second would be Quill's fighting style. Marburg was fighting someone who was implementing two different fighting styles simultaneously. Clare's commands and Quill's natural reactions.

Marburg looked around him and noticed that something was wrong immediately. His green fog. It was disappearing. It was noticeably thinner then what it was moments ago. Marburg looked about him panicky. He didn't want to risk creating a third ball of fog and having it disappeared. Having already created two of them and having them both rendered basically ineffective, since his opponent's kept switching out. If he created a third one and it disappeared, his magic stores would be reduced. Then if he had to create a fourth one, his magic stores would probably be completely depleted. Not to mention he had taken several blows…he would need a certain amount left over so he could heal himself. But could he win this fight without creating the fog ball?

Marburg resigned himself. He needed the fog at least. He needed to create it. Marburg sucked air in and quickly released a large breath of the sickly green fog once more, that slowly started to fill the room.

"Quill! Hold your breath!" shouted Clare. Quill nodded and sucked in his last breath of clean air. Clare's reflection looked around the room. "Long slash! 10, 75, 90!" Quill nodded and took off.

Marburg was lost. He was nowhere near that location, he watched as Quill took off towards one of the wall. Quill brought his sword outwards and upwards slicing a wall in two creating a wide gap in it revealing the outside. Marburg stood back and tried to think of why they did that when it hit him. Ventilation. His fog lasted longer before there was all the holes in the wall. When Quill had entered he smashed a hole in the wall, allowing the fog to eek out, now he created another one. The air was escaping. Marburg grunted. He was beginning to get annoyed. He opened his left hand up as more green fog began to leak out and into it forming a large ball of noxious smog. Just because his weak fog left the room doesn't mean this highly concentrated dose of toxins would. Only thing Marburg needed was a direct hit.

"Quill trouble," stated Clare as she took notice of the large ball forming in Marburg's hand. "You are going to have to dodge almost instantly on my command." Quill nodded. "Okay, then…12, 65, 70." Quill charged forward at Marburg.

Marburg struck out with his free hand first slamming his open palm into Quill's face, knocking the man backwards. Ordinarily Clare would've told Quill to dodge, but her entire focus was on Marburg's toxic ball. "I'm afraid," began Marburg as he reached back and prepared to throw the ball of fog, "this is the end!" Quill was still floating in the air, he had nothing to use that would be able to direct him out of the way.

A single arrow shot through the air and into Quill's side. The force of the arrow knocked Quill out of the way, just as Marburg lobbed the ball forward. The ball shot forward hitting nothing. Michael smiled faintly from the other side of the room. He had mad a clean hit with his shot. "Sorry, mister," said May as her reflection smiled, "but I'm pretty sure that's our line."

Marburg turned about to face them. Then all of a sudden Shi came flying forward, wrapping his yo-yo string all around Marburg's waist. Marburg was yanked from his spot by Melody as she flung him backwards and through the air. "This is for Saul and Rochelle!"

Marburg could only laugh as he was flung through the air, "do you really think that I would be injured by being flung across the room? Please children do give me more credit then that!"

"Trust me," said Ash as he appeared behind him, with Xander on his arm, his blade long, sharp, and glowing from the Soul Resonance. "we are about to give you something!" Ash brought his arm straight forward and into Marburg's back. The force not only from Ash's punch, but from Melody flinging Marburg backwards, only amplified the punch. Xander's blade slid right into Marburg's back, drawing blood from the shot.

"Shit!" cursed Marburg as he pulled himself off of Xander's blade. He stood back up, and looked down at his ravaged body. So many wounds from this fight. Not to mention the fact that he had been wasting his energy almost constantly with those gaseous spheres. Healing would definitely be long and drawn out process. He scoured the room and examined each of his opponents. The golem and his bow, the young lady and her toy, the young man and his gauntlet, and finally the blind man and his sword…four against one. Marburg was seriously beginning to doubt his chances of getting out with all four of his limbs.

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><p>Aya! I've had several problems thus far. As you know my home computer broke down (it is dead FOREVER)! It is not coming back and I lost my first copy. Then I created a second copy on my laptop, then the day I planned on posting it my laptop broke down...I then paid someone to fix my laptop...all of my files got wiped. So I rewrote it again! Three times...bad luck. So I hope you enjoy this chapter!<p>

Yes, Quill is blind. I figured it would be for a good chuckle that he can't see and therefore inadvertently threatens the wrong person. And don't worry, everyone is still alive...so far.


	22. Chapter 21 Sweet Dreams

**Sweet Dreams for Saul!**

**WAIT! What Happened!**

It was a beautiful field of flowers that surrounded a younger Saul all around him. The light from the sun above him shining directly down upon him. The world was at peace. He had just been sent out on one of his latest missions, he had and his partner had made very little progress, though. The witches they were hunting down and had done a great job of creating a maze of problems. The town was a Kishin-Egg-infested. Everyone had a slight Kishin tinge to them, it was a dirty town where most of its inhabitants had relied on murdering or other deplorable acts in order to establish a living.

The dark aura the town gave off was enough to make Saul puke. They believed the witches they were hunting were holed up in the town, waiting for the perfect time to strike. Surrounded by hundreds of Kishin-Eggs was probably the best form or protection a witch could ask for. Best case scenario they would give birth to a wonderfully new powerful beast, worst case scenario they served as a basic security system. Many meisters had stepped into the town and were killed due to their ignorance, so the DWMA sent Saul here to defeat the witches and as many Kishin-Eggs as he could.

"Just relaxing like always, Saul?" asked a young lady as she walked up to the man laying on the ground, "you never do much, do you? The rest of our squad has already headed down to the town to do some basic research. So, we better start heading down to the town now." She was dressed in a yellow sundress with a large brim yellow hat on top. The typical Sunday best. She looked down at Saul lovingly.

"Sure, Deliah," said Saul as he began to get up. The two were engaged. They had been dating for a year before Saul popped the question. Now they were getting married in a few months, this was their last mission before they were married. They were both excited about it and wanted nothing more then to get over with. They had two other groups with them. Two young up and comers. Very popular and it was possible they would become Death Scythes. Of course, Saul couldn't say much as Deliah wasn't a Death Scythe yet despite the multiple years of work they had put into it. They shared a quick kiss before heading down to the town.

The met up with their two friends. One was a young female trident-user. She appeared only to be nineteen, but she had a very powerful aura around her. She had an air of self-confidence and strength. Other then her there was another young meister. He was probably also around nineteen, if not older. In his hand was a large blade, at least five feet in length. It was long and skinny in form. The man appeared to be just as proud as his female counter-part.

With Saul and Deliah arriving the crew was complete as they marched through the town, Saul and Deliah taking their time enjoying the sights. It was almost like a honeymoon to them. Their two younger partners were brash and less patient charging through the streets with reckless abandon. Anyone that even had a hint of a Kishin-like quality to them were immediately mowed down. Saul wasn't happy about it, but that's what happens to people in this kind of job. They went nuts and mowed all things with even a hint of evil aura down without much of a side-though.

That's went the world went crazy. It was just a sudden explosion that sent rubble and debris swirling around them. Saul was thrown to the side with the force. Everybody else caught the worst of it. Saul's easy-going nature put him behind the blast's radius and helped him survive the blast. The rest of his team weren't so fortunate. His friends and partners were tossed backwards and into the buildings around them. Saul was temporarily disoriented. He stumbled as he tried to stand back up. His hearing was shocked and his eardrums were probably destroyed from the disastrous noise.

Saul looked around him. His eyes immediately found his attacker. It was a young witch. She was smiling as she watched his friends panic. Her thin hands held a large glowing yellow ball. Her magic created a powerful explosion...that much was obvious to Saul just from the beginning. Saul looked around, panicked. The attack was dangerous and his friends had probably taken the brunt of the blow. He immediately saw them. The young girl had been thrown into the building, her leg was sticking out of the window and it was bent out of shape. It was obviously bruised and probably broken.

Where was the young man though? Saul's head snapped about trying to find the young man that accompanied them. Out of nowhere he shot out of one of the buildings, his sword in his hands sailing above Saul and aiming at the witch. The witch snickered. There was another explosion engulfing the young male, blowing him helplessly to the side and forcing him back down to the ground. His weapon was blown from his hand and sent flying across the terrain. The blade shone a light blue and quickly morphed into a normal human male.

Saul's eyes hovered on them for a second. Their souls...were weakening. They were so bright and abundant...full of energy just a few mere seconds ago. But now...they were dim. The brilliant flames of their souls had diminished into something more like candles. Another blast would probably do them in. "Deliah!" shouted Saul. Deliah nodded. A lovely, warm yellow light engulfed her. Her body became thin and long as it wrapped slowly around Saul's upper body. When the light vanished, Deliah's true form as a long, slinky silver chain appeared. Saul smiled, "this will be the last fight before that day!" Deliah's heavy chain smashed into the ground and her long chain-like body stretched out to its fullest, pushing and propelling Saul upwards and outwards towards the witch. Saul struck out with a deadly kick to the witch's abdomen.

The witch whimpered as she was forced backwards from the force of the kick. She snickered as the small light ball of her magic began to swirl about in her hands once more. The powerful explosive forming there. Saul smiled, he was ready to dodge this attack at a moment's notice. With Deliah's flexible body, she could push him in any direction in order to avoid the deadly attack. Suddenly Saul's heart was filled with the dread as the witch lowered her arm away from him. The small ball of light wasn't aimed at him, it was aimed at his partners.

Saul quickly adjusted his path of flight and redirected his position over a bit more. He moved himself directly in between the line of fire and his partner. He spread his arms wide and watched as the large ball of pure energy sailed towards him. Saul blacked out.

(-Meanwhile in the DWMA Infirmary-)

Rochelle and the students were all gathered in the room looming over Saul. Watching him writhe in pain as the medication that Lord Death suggested be used worked their magic. Rochelle had already come out of the fog and was awake and kicking again, albeit she was restrained from any extraneous activity for awhile. Saul, however, was still unconscious, the only signal that he was still alive was a painful cough every now and then and the small moving line on his heart monitor.

"The doctor's say he won't be out of it for awhile," said Rochelle as she kept her eyes trained on Saul. She knew him before he met the witch. She was a close friend of Deliah and knew Saul. She knew what he must be thinking of. Every day he woke up in a cold sweat from having the same repeating nightmare of Deliah's death. After Saul had stepped in to protect his partners from the attack, Deliah came out and became a human in front of him, shielding him from the blast. The blast damaged Deliah, irreparably. She died within days, nothing the doctors could do about it.

Saul had lived with it everyday. He was always in a bad shape with it. Rochelle remembered that day not only as the day that Deliah had died, but the day Saul began drinking again. Deliah had spent a year talking Saul out of drinking, but as soon as she passed away. Saul immediately buried himself directly in the alcohol. He drank about three bottles a day, never slowing down. It was just a way to handle the pain.

Rochelle sighed as she turned back around to the students. "I think we should leave him alone...you can tell me about how you guys beat Marburg." She made another look back at Saul laying in the hospital bed before shooing the gang out.

Shi dodged her and ran back in. He jumped up onto one of the stools near Saul's bed. "I don't think so!" shouted Shi as he braced himself against the stool and stayed in place, "I'm not leaving until Saul wakes up! I owe him a punch! And it doesn't count until he wakes up!"

"Shi," sighed Melody as walked up next to her, "come on, buddy. We need to tell Rochelle and Lord Death about how we won against Marburg. You can tell them about how you hit him and he fell down! All the good stuff!" Melody tugged on Shi's shirt trying to get him to get out of the room and leave Saul's side, but he wouldn't. He refused to move from the spot.

"It's okay," said Rochelle with a tone of sadness as she watched Shi sit by Saul's side, "I'm sure Saul wouldn't mind Shi sitting there. I'm sure he wouldn't mind it. Those two are a lot alike." Rochelle sighed as she remembered how Saul stayed by Deliah's side until the day of her funeral...even then he visited her grave site almost every day. He basically camped out there on her first birthday.

Shi stood up abruptly and began to head for the door, ignoring he rest of the group standing around, "Come to think of it Lord Death will probably need to see me," bragged Shi as he left the room. He didn't like being compared to Saul, especially considering the fact that right now, Saul was the only one that was knocked out cold for many weeks to come.

Michael shrugged as he followed Shi out of the room. May was quickly in tow behind him. Xander pushed Ash out of the way as he left to in sure that he was in front of him, Ash picked himself up and shook his head. A look of panic crossed his face as he looked downwards at his clothing. There was a light dusting on them, but it was enough to send him rushing to the bathroom.

Soon there was only Rochelle and Melody left in the room. Melody hesitated to leave the room as Saul had once again let out a quick grunt from his otherwise silent sleep. But Rochelle quickly rushed her out of there. Rochelle was last. She lingered by the doorway offering a backwards glance at Saul who now laid silent, remembering how Saul had stayed by Deliah's bedside throughout her agony, Rochelle let out a brief sigh as she approached the nearby stool and sat down on it, "don't worry, Saul. I'll stay with you."

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><p>Aya...I know, I know, I kind of skipped the last chapter. I was becoming extremely annoyed with how long the fighting lasted and just wasn't in the mood to write a good fight scene. So, I will finish it next chapter with a final bit about the fight. Really, I am sorry, but it was either this or no chapter this week. Okay? Okay. Besides you know how real mangaka do this sort of stuff, they skip the climax or have the main character pass out and then relearn about it the very next day.<p> 


	23. Chapter 22 Curing Marburg

**Curing Marburg!**

Marburg's attention heated up drastically as he once again surveyed the damage done from the brats' last attack. He was in an outrage. He wanted to kill them. They were mocking him. Three kids and a blind man! If he lost he would be the laughing stock of the world! Even retreating until he was at full power wasn't an option! He needed to get rid of them once and for all! Prove once more that 'The Great Plague' Marburg was the best! And he knew the perfect technique of how to do it.

As he rethought about it He just needed to kill the younger brats, the older one wouldn't bother him. He was blind, but he was also a capable meister. And he had already taken down one of them, people would understand if he decided to retreat after killing four meisters, be as young as they are didn't matter. Each meister is a force, regardless of age. It was settled he'd kill them...starting with the child's plaything!

Marburg turned his attention to Melody. Marburg didn't know what it was about those two that just got him riled up...perhaps it was because it was a girl? Not only was she a child, but she was also a woman...in every way shape and form, she was his inferior, but she still acted like she deserved a place next to him. It made Marburg wondered what had happened to the world while he was awhile...did men finally give into the women's stupid demands of equality? He couldn't believe it was possible...he couldn't fathom what reason was there possibly to make women equal to a man! Were horses in charge of their own civilization?

Marburg shook such thoughts from his head as he stared down at the girl, she must've been chosen for some other ridiculous reason...maybe a wealthy uncle? It didn't matter for now he would end the life of her, "bacteria isn't just airborne you know?" stated Marburg as he stretched out his left arm, "there are other ways to transfer highly deadly viruses. Gas is just more widespread it spreads widely and infects anyone it can find...but its just as easy to create a concentrated dose of any virus...including my own!" A green liquid began to leak from Marburg's pores. Soon it began to turn an almost crystallized white as it blurred together with his arms. "This is it! This is my Plague's Touch!"

Marburg smiled. Its been ages since he had to use this technique. It was just as deadly as the gaseous orb he used, but it was reusable, he could touch multiple people and infect them with it. The only downside was the lack of the airborne aspect. He had to touch them to infect them. He needed to get in close to them.

"Melody! Ash!" shouted Michael as he strode forward, "get behind me! I have the highest chance of surviving whatever this is." May's reflection nodded in agreement, she had her own look of fierce determination. Michael brought his bow up and aimed at Marburg. He fired a quick shot.

Marburg chuckled as he dodged out of its way. He brought his virus infused arm and grabbed a hold of the shot. "Still haven't learned have you?" Marburg charged forward his robe billowing out behind him as he dashed towards Michael or past him as was his attention. He stopped short and made a quick half-jump back as Clare's iron ball attachment came crashing into the ground between him and Michael. May let out a short shriek as she watched the heavy metal ball smash into the ground in front of her. Another few feet and it would've smashed into her and Michael. Marburg let out an almost snake-like hiss as he glared at Quill, who calmly walked into the center of the battlefield.

"No...I was..." said Quill quietly as he stared down at the ground... "I was too late...wasn't I?" Quill backed up almost as if he was wounded, "I struck a fraction of a second too late, didn't I? I couldn't stop him before Marburg touched that innocent young girl...because of that...I...I..."

"Quill!" shouted Clare, "calm down. She was just startled...she didn't get killed. She is still alive." Clare was calmly looking upwards at Quill's face as it changed from one of distress to a smile. "Our timing was still good."

Quill let out a brief sigh as he turned around and, after a quick confirmation from Clare that he was facing the right way, he lifted his sword upwards at Marburg. "Now...just because you didn't harm the fair lass is no excuse! I will still bring justice upon you. Clare! Location!" Clare quickly responded with Marburg's location. Quill dashed forward his blade at the ready. Quilll slashed out, barely missing Marburg's feet as he escaped to the air.

Marburg brought his arm downwards in a slashing motion splashing his poisonous liquid on his hand outwards and onto the ground around Quill. Quill let out a quick grunt as the liquid landed onto his skin and seeped into him. "Don't worry," mocked Marburg, "that was a very low dosage. Even without the advancements this world has made in medicine, it would still be curable." Marburg smiled, this man wasn't going to get the pleasure of a quick death by his virus, no, Marburg wanted his death to be dragged out.

"HIYA!" shouted Ash as he brought his bladed gauntlet around and at Marburg, intending to land another blow onto his body. Marburg jumped backwards avoiding the blow. Marburg was about to open his mouth and say something to mock him, but he had to dunk to avoid Melody's swinging yo-yo that grazed above his head.

Marburg was starting to get annoyed. There were too many enemies for him to fight as soon as he dodged one blow, another one came soaring at him. He was starting to get exhausted just by thinking about he was going to avoid the next blow that came. He may just have to rely on his trump card after all.

A shot from Michael's bow interrupted Marburg's train of thought as the arrow drilled deep into his shoulder. Marburg let out a screech of pain as he turned around to face the group. "Must you always interrupt me! There is an entire wall behind me to shoot at!" Marburg breathed heavily as he swished his arm around in the air. A small ball of liquid began to form in his hand as he swirled it around. With a mighty heave he sent this ball of liquid flying at Michael and May.

Quill quickly intercepted he swung the flat side of his blade forward at the ball, sending it splashing about him, but effectively dissipating the high concentration of the poisonous sphere. Quill brought his blade down. "This is it," said Quill as he looked at the kids, "now we will deal the finishing blow. Saul and Rochelle are both knocked out. We need to speed this up, so...let's hit him with everything we got!" Quill dashed forward, his pink claymore glinting in the light as he drew in closer to Marburg.

Marburg laughed as he brought his poisoned hand forward. The liquid on it hardened to a point it was basically solid. Quill brought the blade forward and into Marburg's hardened acidic arm. The blade smashed into it, sending chips of poisonous ice flying across the room. Marburg laughed loudly! "Hah! You may only have one blade! But I have more then one arm!" Marburg lifted his free hand up and coated it in the same liquid as the other as he brought it down upon Quill.

Quill backed up dodging the falling arm, "two arms, huh? How about four weapons?" Quill leapt out of the way. Michael fired a single arrow at Marburg's chest. Melody struck out with Shi's his thin, yet burning string wrapping itself around the arrow. Melody tugged on the string of the yo-yo, causing it to unravel. The arrow began to spin due to the force of the string, not only that but the yo-yo's flames were also transferred onto it.

Marburg couldn't even react to it as the burning arrow spun into his chest forcing him backwards, but his feet never left the ground as he absorbed the shockwave from the blow, he only barely skidded onto the floor. He stood there breathing heavily with the burning arrow in his chest, "hah...hah...it looks like once again...I come out on top."

"Nope! That position is reserved solely for me!" shouted Xander as Ash smashed his metal gauntlet into the arrow, sending it even deeper into Marburg's body. Marburg's eyes widened in pain as he was fell straight to the ground, gasping for breath. The arrow had burned and twisted its way into his skin and the final push it was given was just what it needed to make even the 'Great Plague' Marburg, himself, hit the floor writhing in pain.

Marburg wasn't about to let it end like this. He wasn't about to let this battle be a win for those kids! He'd just have to turn it into a draw. Marburg lifted himself up from his place on the floor, "nice try...kiddies," he said in between gasps of breath, "but I'm sorry to say this fight will still end with your death!" The cool whitish-green liquid on his arms began to slowly turn red, this liquid slowly crept up and around Marburg's body. Once the liquid and fully covered the man, it began to undergo another transformation as it began to form bubbles all over it.

"Get out of here!" shouted Quill looking over his shoulder and at the wall behind him. "I think we need to put as big of a distance between us as possible!" The group quickly nodded and turned about all of them racing for the door to escape from the room, Michael and Ash stopped by and picked up Saul and Rochelle and quickly continued on their way.. Quill remained in front of them with his sword in between him and Marburg, readying to embrace the blow. The bubbles slowly began to grow in size.

"Quill!" shouted Clare as her reflection appeared on the sword looking up at him, "we should get going, too! This blast could cover the entire room, maybe even the temple!" Clare's iron ball began to swinging wildly.

"I know," said Quill as he turned back around and faced Marburg's body lying on the ground, "I don't think the kids'll make it out of the blast radius in time. I'll divert most of what I can...the kids will just have to manage after that. Let's go...SOUL RESONANCE!"

(-With the group and Lord Death at the DWMA-)

"Hmm...I suppose that's why I haven't heard from Quill, yet,"said Lord Death as he rolled his head about on his large hands, "OH, well. I'm sure he managed. Its not like Quill to be beaten by something like that." Lord Death recalled Quill's first day on the job, not many people with his disability would've even applied for the jobs that he did, but Quill did and he accomplished them.

"I can't believe you sent some blind old man with a pink sword to save us!" shouted Xander as he jumped upwards at Lord Death, grabbing his cloak. "Couldn't you have sent someone better! We barely made it out of there as is."

"Really?" said Lord Death, "he was blind. He never told me anything about it...I suppose I should've picked up on it. Anyways, how was the mission?" Lord Death crossed his arm and looked at them, inquisitively.

"I'd say it was a failure..." said Shi thinking back to Saul lying in the hospital bed.

"Yes...um...well," said Lord Death as he paused for brief moment, "I suppose you all should be on your way. Take the next couple of weeks off from missions and focus on healing...okay?" The group had a consistent murmur about them as they left the room, each of their heads hung low thinking back to the mission, Saul, and Quill. Lord Death sighed as he returned his attention to the mirror behind him, "yes?"

Quill's face appeared over the mirror, "Lord Death, I just wanted to relay that I am still alive. No need to worry," said Quill as he breathed heavily into the mirror, "I am currently experiencing some minor health issues, but I will continue to hunt down Marburg."

"He's still alive?" asked Marburg without a hint of surprise, "I guess its too be expected of him...with him alive...the other two will start acting out...I better alert the rest of the Death Scythes."

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><p>Oh, no! Marburg is still alive! ...okay...I'm pretty sure most of you guys saw that coming...especially if you know me...anyways! This is the finally chapter of the Marburg Arc...what's next? Well, some filler chapters and then I think I'm going to go into the War or Famine Arc? So, you guys better start sending in those War and Famine OCs, you are running out of time!<p> 


	24. Chapter 23 A Day at Home

**A Day Back At Home!**

Melody had gotten up at 8 o'clock and started to work on her studies. The last mission had put her behind, but she wasn't going to let that hold her back. The Mesiter and Weapons exams were going to begin tomorrow and she knew Shi wouldn't be much help on the written portion...she leaned back in her chair as she thought about it. In all reality she should probably go over into Shi's room and wake Shi up. Even if studying for an extra three hours only gave Shi an extra five points...Shi kind of need those five points. Melody stood up and headed to her bedroom door.

Melody passed her neat room. Everything was neatly stacked away on the shelves and absolutely everything was in its own respective space. Her closet was just as organized. Her clothes were organized in type of clothing, color, age, and several other organizational methods. She wasn't OCD she just liked having everything in place.

She approached the door. She first undid the chain lock at the top, taking the chain out of the trench and letting it hang. She then moved onto the bottom lock and listened to it click open as she turned it. Between ordinary teams the two locks she had may have seemed like a bit much, but one day Melody didn't lock her door and woke up to Shi cuddling with her in HER bed. That was one of the days that Melody had sent Shi to the infirmary.

Melody arrived at Shi's bedroom. She gingerly knocked on the door, a zombie-like groan could be heard from the other side of the door. Melody knocked once more on the door, this time harder. The door slowly swung open, revealing Shi's messy bedroom. The floor was covered with clothing had probably been there before they left on the mission and chances are they were for another few months before that. Melody cringed at Shi's unkept room, but quietly crept to Shi's bedside, keeping her eyes on the ground to make sure nothing moved about.

When Melody finally made it to Shi's bedside, she gently nudged Shi, in an effort to wake Shi up. Shi made a small grunt as Shi rolled over onto it's other side. Melody fumed temporarily as she thought about grabbing a bucket of water and dumping it on him. She breathed heavily as she tried to calm down. Melody looked at Shi once more, she frowned temporarily as she nudged him once more this time harder. Shi grunted and made a few pointless hand swats at her. Melody's hand went up to her and she massaged her temples as she continued to think about ways to wake Shi up. Finally, Melody just shrugged and bent down, placing her head next to Shi's ear, "WAKE UP!" screamed Melody.

Shi jumped up from the bad, gripping the bedsheets and wrapping them around it's chest, "wa ha ha ha!" screamed Shi as it pressed itself into the corner. Shi breathed for awhile before speaking up, "what the heck are you doing here?" Shi's hand scrambled around its bedsheets, trying to desperately keep them up.

"Waking you up," muttered Melody as she brushed some of her hair out of her face, "we have a test coming up soon and I think it would be a good idea to study for it. Especially considering the fact that one of us got an 8 out of 50 on the last test. I mean a warrior, like me, shouldn't be worrying about failing her exam."

"Okay, okay...okay," said Shi as it rubbed the back of its head, "fine...just let me eat breakfast first." Shi looked over at the door and motioned towards it, telling Melody to get out.

"Oh, come on, Shi," said Melody as she looked Shi up and down, "I've seen you in your little pajamas before...just drop the blanket and let's go downstairs and get breakfast, okay?" Melody looked at Shi and this time she motioned towards the door, telling her for both of them to leave.

"I understand...and if I was wearing pajamas I would totally agree with you," said Shi once more. Shi then motioned to the door once more, "and I would be very happy with you if you would leave the room once more so I can change, cool?"

"Okay, why aren't you wearing pajamas?"asked Melody looking up at Shi as she grabbed the blanket, preparing to yank it off, whether Shi liked it or not.

"All of my pajamas were dirty," said Shi as it shrugged. It yanked the the sheets out of Melody's hands and wrapped it around itself even tighter this time. "I thought about wearing some of my other clothing, but I couldn't find anything." Shi gestured to its empty closet.

"Yeah," said Melody as she looked down at all of the clothing dotting the floor. "But that doesn't matter either, I've seen you in your underwear before, too. You've walked around downstairs in your underwear before, so come on!" Melody was, at this point, determined to win the argument.

"Again...if I was wearing underwear I would totally agree with you," stated Shi. Melody dropped the blanket, gasped, and jumped back in horror. "See, now you understand."

"WHY THE HECK AREN'T YOU WEARING UNDERWEAR?" shouted Melody glaring at Shi.

"All of them were dirty. You know, I don't see why you are making such a big fuss about this for," said Shi as it gathered the blanket around it once more. "I mean you didn't yell at me for not wearing underwear all the time on the mission."

"You weren't wearing underwear on the mission either?" shouted Melody. She sighed loudly as she shook her head, "I'm going to leave now and go downstairs. I'm going to start getting your breakfast together, come down after you put on some clothing. And that means underwear included!"

A few minutes later, Shi appeared downstairs. Melody looked up, about to greet Shi when she noticed what Shi was wearing. Shi was dressed in a knee-length black skirt and a white button-up shirt with a black leather jacket and red trim. "Why the heck are you wearing MY clothes!" she shouted as she slammed a pitcher of orange juice on the table, she was fuming.

"Don't worry," said Shi as it motioned for Melody to calm down, "I'm wearing underwear."

"Please, please, PLEASE!" shouted Melody as she clasped her hands together, "please tell me that they are your underwear." Melody looked at Shi with big, puppy dog eyes.

"If you don't mind me lying," said Shi as it sat down at the table. Melody collapsed onto the floor, panicking. Shi calmly drank a glass of orange juice, "and I have got to tell you, Melody. You really have a nice selection, I picked one of your G-Strings."

(-With Ash and Xander-)

Both Ash and Xander were already up. Ash's daily (more like hourly, according to Xander) cleaning regime wasn't exactly something that could be done in complete silence. There would be clinging of pots and pans as Ash rewashed, despite the fact that they washed last night as well, the sound of washboards as Ash hand-washed all of his clothing (he didn't fully trust washing machines to get his clothing just right), and finally there would a miscellaneous orchestra of brooms and mops wiping the floors clean.

During this time Xander often remained in his room. If Xander left his room know, somehow he would ruin the floors by walking on them or dirty the dishes by looking at them again and, basically, force Ash to completely restart all of his work. So early on they decided the best situation was for Xander to stay in his room and let the crazy person...well, be crazy. Meanwhile Xander would be chilling in his room, playing any one of a large selection of games he had acquired using his DWMA allowance or he would think of more ways to mock Ash...like talking about his ducky pajamas.

"DONE," shouted Ash, declaring his current victory over the dirty house. He was currently dressed in big bulky yellow plastic gloves, along with a ridiculous apron with a big red heart on it with the word 'Mom' in it. It was another 'gift' from his mother along with his pajamas. He quickly pulled it off, folded it very neatly and placed it away in an upper cupboard along with the various cooking dishes. He knew that was one of the few places Xander would never look, Xander never cooked...to be fair Ash didn't cook all too much either...they ordered take-out or they'd just eat sandwiches.

Xander grunted in his room...just a few more minutes and he would've finished the Final Attack...the Draco Cantus was giving him a hard time, but due to Ash's panicked cleaning mode Xander had missed breakfast up to this point and the fact that Ash had declared 'Done' mean that Xander could finally leave his room and get some breakfast...probably meant some toaster waffles or if Xander was lucky, and there was some left over, some ramen noodles. Xander swung his feet off of his bed first and headed downstairs.

When Xander got downstairs Ash was back to focusing on the test tomorrow. Xander shrugged it off. He would pass the test and ultimately that's all Xander needed to know. He wouldn't do as well as Ash or Melody...or May and Michael...he'd beat Shi, though. The top five spots were usually reserved for Melody, Ash, a girl called Evalyn Meyrs, Semper Ais, and some other kid whose name escaped Xander at the moment. Xander knew Semper Ais, he was the class president. He was basically in charge of everything for them...and with that Xander willingly admitted the fact that he hated that guy. Xander never met Evalyn Meyrs and...Mystery Kid X. Ash had though...geeks attract other geeks.

Xander quickly poured his cereal and milk while lost in thought. He shouldn't have. While he doing so, his arm accidentally fell forward a little bit more then usual and he ended up pouring a large amount of milk onto the table. Ash's head piqued up. Ash had originally been wrapped up in his world of studying, but his sixth sense was just set on fire. Ash looked at Xander and then at the new milky mess he had made and then back at Xander. "XANDER!"

Xander cringed. Now ordinarily Xander would take this opportunity to mock Ash and then leave while Ash busied himself with cleaning, but he still had to eat so he was stuck here listening to Ash drone on and on. Ash jumped over to Xander's side of the table with a wet washcloth already in hand. Ash frantically began to do circular motions with the washcloth cleaning the table to a nearly perfect shine, "Xander, how many times must I state that when eating you must pay one-hundred percent attention to eating!" Xander shrugged, carelessly. Ash glared down at Xander's cereal bowl. "You are not even using a coaster or a place mat!" Ash swung his hand over lifted Xander's bowl into the air and then slid a place mat delicately underneath the bowl. "How can you not care what kind of state this house is in!"

Once more Xander shrugged. Xander took decent care of his room, it would be borderline clean at the best. Everything shoved into his closet, no neat organizing or frenzied clean state, but the floor would be clean and Xander knew where everything was in case of an emergency. Xander sighed and reclined in his chair with a spoon full of cereal in his mouth as he resigned himself to once again listen to Ash's frantic speak about how important a clean house is. Chances are if Xander had enough money he would've gotten his own place, but Xander decided splitting a place with Ash and then having enough money leftover to buy video games was the best bet.

Ash sighed. "I would love to teach you more about manners and cleaning and etiquette, but I have a test to study for. Especially seeing as someone on this team has to make sure our grade average is enough to be able to skip a mandatory after class session with Lord Death..." Ash sighed as he slumped back into his chair.

Xander smiled as he got up from his chair, now that he was done with eating his cereal. He placed the dirty dish next to the sink and left the kitchen heading for his room. However, he stopped on the stair and looked back at Ash. Ash was at his seat, trying with all of his will to continue to focus on the task at hand and continue to study for the upcoming test, but he couldn't. The dirty dish next to the sink was burrowing into his skin...it was just sitting there...it was the only dirty thing in his vicinity...he HAD to clean it...but he also HAD to study...the dirty dish wins! Ash jumped up from his spot and raced to the sink, immediately fixated on cleaning it to a sparkling shine like once before. However, both he and Xander knew that once Ash had cleaned this dish the rest of the dishes would pale in comparison and seem dirty, forcing Ash to once again clean them as well. It was a cruel cycle.

* * *

><p>There you go! Both Melody and Shi's and Xander and Ash's lifestyle while they are not at work! And yes, Melody is going to burn the clothing that Shi is wearing. Next up in Chapter 24 of 'An Unsound Body' I'll be showing you what May and Michael do in preparations for the test...along with a scene from the test.<p>

Also, I have decided to include a fourth team, but I have a special surprise! You will be picking it! Over the next five chapters or so, I will be introducing two to five teams (you know like I did in the first few chapters of this story) and then I will post a poll on my profile asking you to pick which team I should add. (The other teams will still show up throughout the story, so don't worry if your favorite didn't get picked).


	25. Chapter 24 A Day at Michael's and May's

**A Day at Michael's and May's!**

**Failure at Testing!**

May rolled lazily out of bed. Ordinarily she would've stayed in bed for another hour or so, but due to the test tomorrow she needed all the time she could get. An extra hour or so and she would get a good grade. Of course, she would pass no matter how little time she put into studying...but she wanted to get a good grade...no, she wanted to get the best grade. While she openly recognized the fact that it was near impossible, what with all the eggheads in their class and all, but her goal was to do her very best and her very best should be THE best!

She sighed as she went to start her day off with a shower. Of course, she could count herself lucky...Ash and Melody accidentally got paired up with idiots...Michael wasn't an egghead, but he wasn't dumb either...he would get an 83 out of 100 on the test as always, it was almost a curse actually...Michael had a habit of getting an 83 on all the tests regardless of how long he studied...eventually Michael just kind of gave up on studying. May let out another sigh as she exited the bathroom with one towel wrapped around her body and another keeping her hair up.

May god changed relatively quickly. She already had her outfit planned out last night, she was determined to spend all of today studying just for the test, so she last night she decided to stay up and extra half an hour just to make sure that her outfit was ready. Once that was done she was on her way to Michael's.

Most Meister and Weapons lived together in Death City, but May's parents were over-protective of their darling girl and when they found out that she had partnered with a male...well, things didn't go over so well. They demanded that they get separate apartments. Since they just met each other neither Michael nor May cared so they got separate apartments as a matter of fact they both believed it to be the best idea out there. Its not like they lived far away either, it was a good five minute walk in between the two's apartment, hardly even noticeable.

May arrived at Michael's apartment soon enough. There was a light yellow sticky note attached to the door. 'I'll be at the gym - Michael'. May shrugged it off and headed down to the gym, no doubt Michael was probably down there practicing with a bow and arrow. He's probably been there for the last couple of hours...Michael had always been an early riser, but its gotten worse ever since he lost his body. May wasn't even sure how much Michael had been sleeping since he lost his body or even if he slept at all...after all his body doesn't need sleep, but a soul requires sleep right?

May soon arrived at the gym. The school had several gyms, but only one of them had an archery range built into it, it was also the closest, so it stood to reason that Michael would be there. May walked into the archery range...it was empty. May looked around the archery range, but she still didn't see him. It didn't make any sense...for all students it was required that they took both a mental and physical tests. Most kids freak out about the mental tests as they are trained in physical standards by doing tasks like hunting Kishin eggs along with other normal student activities like gym class. Of course for ranged attackers like Michael they have to pass a shooting test as well as basic physical examinations, but they were also graded far more easily on terms of physical abilities then a close-up fighter would be...which only made the fact that Michael wasn't here even more weird.

May made another look around the archery range to see if she didn't just miss him by a few extra seconds as he left, but there was nothing that suggested that he was actually here. The targets were all clear there wasn't an arrow in there, so Michael wasn't just taking a break. She took a glance at the floor. It was clean...she guessed the janitors or the working students must have cleaned it up last night and Michael did not come in here to shoot...then where was he?

May left the shooting range and entered the normal gym. Every time she saw the size of this gym and remembered that they had so many more she was amazed that Lord Death had such wealth. Not to mention the fact that they had one archery range, several swimming pools, multiple apartments, and the school was several stories tall. Lord Death didn't exactly seem like the man to store money away and invest it in order to make money...so it was questionable as to how he made so much money. She was starting to think of Lord Death's past days and how he got the money when she finally saw Michael.

Instead of practicing his aim Michael was jogging around the gym."Hey, Michael," shouted May trying to attract his attention. Michael stopped and jogged over to her. "What exactly is it that you are doing? We both know that we are going to pass the exercise section of the test with ease! I mean we ran all over the temple and we beat a witch...sort of..."

"We think that..." said Michael as he looked down upon his legs, "but...I think something is wrong with my leg. During the last mission my leg felt out of place...its felt like that ever since...you know...the incident...so I figured I'd come out here and test my time..." Michael motioned to watch he was wearing, "so far I am running a whole half a minute slower then I used to."

May recalled the hunting of Spectra and the running away from the wild boar that had occurred in the temple. As she thought about it the more she seemed to remember Michael was moving a little slower...it wasn't that big of a difference and not even enough of a difference to matter and that's what she told Michael.

"Its half a minute," said Michael as he sat down on the ground, "a whole half a minute...its kind of a big deal when something changes...especially when it changes for the worst." Michael grabbed his left leg and checked the mechanics in it once more.

May didn't quite follow it to the point, but the whole idea was incredibly well-thought out and it was true. If something is going right and then it all of a sudden takes a dive it does kind of mean trouble. May sighed, "okay. I guess I understand...you are just going to stay here and work-out? Try to rebuild some musc..." May quickly caught on and stopped herself. Michael couldn't exactly rebuild muscles...

"Yeah..." said Michael as he took a quick stretch, mainly due to routine than reason. With that he was off running around the gym once more. May sighed and slumped into a nearby seat. She cracked open her notes and began studying for the upcoming test.

(-The Next Day, at the Testing Room-)

Over 50 students had poured into the testing room. They were all gathered around with a piece of paper in front of them, ready to begin the rigorous written test. At the front of the room stood Rochelle. Originally Clare was signed on to hand out the tests, but she was gone with Quill for the time being, on a secret mission that was not discussed in front of the students. Not even Michael, May, Melody, Shi, Ash, or Xander were told about the mission, despite their activeness in the last mission with them and Marburg.

"Okay, students," began Rochelle as she started to lecture the class on the proper testing etiquette. "Please remember to answer all questions to the best of your ability. If you are unsure of the answer, skip it. You have an hour and a half for the entire test, more than enough time. Finally I don't believe that I will need to state this, but please remember...Do not cheat. Cheating will be severaly punished. I am sure you have heard of the stories...and I am telling you the honest truth when I say...they are all true." With that there was a quick murmur from the students as they recalled the many, many, many stories of students who were brutally hung in front of the class or the story of the student who hid the answers in his clothing and was forced to strip nearly naked in front of the class.

"Quiet. Calm down," continued Rochelle, "As stated you have an hour and a half for the test! Begin!" The test began. The 50 or so students quickly began scribbling out on their tests, admittedly some of them were working harder and faster than the others. Ash was off to a strong start, he was working his way through the mathematics and even all of the sciences. Melody jumped straight to the English and took a couple of science questions while she was it. Michael and May were jumping from question to question in an effort to get more answered correctly. Shi, on the other hand, was busy drawing a wolf man and a sword-wielding fish attacking a giant golem.

Xander began applying pressure to his pencil as he worked harder focusing on his test. Suddenly his pencil snapped and the lead of the pencil came flying off and landed squarely on Ash's test. The lead rolled around smearing its dust all around upon Ash's test. "XANDER!" shouted Ash at the top of his voice. This attracted the entire classes attention.

Rochelle sighed. "Ash...please remain quiet...another outburst like that and I am afraid I'm going to have to fail you and give you a mandatory retest...okay? From now on despite how much Xander irritates you, you mustn't shout," reiterated Rochelle. She didn't want to fail Ash, after all he was a bright student, but the rules are the rules.

"Don't worry about it..." said Ash as he bowed his head, "it won't happen again." Ash glared over at Xander. He took out one cube eraser and began to frantically erase the pencil marks that Xander had caused.

"Hey, Ash," said Xander as he prodded at Ash's ribs as Rochelle looked away. Ash kept his eyes away from Xander, he had to guess that Xander was going to ask him some stupid question or even ask him to help him out on his test. "Hey, Ash, I really need a pencil. Can you let me borrow one?" Ash shook his head as he began to focus on the test. Ash put his pencil done as he realized he made a slight mistake. He bent back down and got his eraser out again.

Meanwhile Xander was sitting in his chair, scouring the ground for a pencil that was unfortunately dropped onto the ground. The first pencil Xander noticed was a light pink pencil with red hearts on it. His pride wouldn't allow him to pick up the pencil and use it, finally out of pure luck he noticed a pencil perfectly placed between him and Ash. He bent down, picked it up, and set back to work.

Ash had just finished correcting his mistake...he was missing his pencil. He paused as he looked back down at his desk. Finally, after he slowly calmed down he realized he must've slipped the pencil into his pocket, after a thorough examination of his pockets he found he was wrong. It must've rolled off and fell to the floor. Ash looked down at the floor...there was only a very girly pink pencil on the ground...Ash ignored it and began to search for his pencil...it was nowhere. He brought his head back up and calmed down, giving up on finding it. He noticed Xander holding onto a pencil...HIS pencil.

"Hey, Xander," whispered Ash when Rochelle looked away. Xander ignored him. "Hey, Xander," whispered Ash even louder, making it just quiet enough to make sure Rochelle didn't hear him, "is that my pencil?" No response again. "Xander...Xander...Xander."

"Miss Rochelle!" called out Xander. Rochelle turned around and faced him, "Ash is pestering me and I can no longer focus on my own test." Ash glared at Xander.

"Ash," said Rochelle upset that once again Ash had spoken up...she thought she heard some chattering in the background she just couldn't fathom why Ash was talking. "I'm sorry, but you are going to have to leave and...I am going to have to fail you."

"What!" shouted Ash standing up from his seat. "I didn't do anything wrong! I just lost my..." Rochelle stopped him and pointed out of the door, she hated disciplining her students, but she had to. Ash's head slumped as he left the room.

Sadly, one thing Xander forgot to calculate into his mocking of Ash was the simple fact that they were scored in pairs. A Meister and Weapon pair who failed to get over 140 in a total score had to take a mandatory make-up lesson...sadly, one person could only get a score of 100. Ash was getting a score of 0, so Xander was also being roped into the mandatory make-up lesson.

* * *

><p>Well, that's the test. With Ash failing, Xander messing with Ash, and the rest of the crew making it out with no worries. For those of you who are thinking 'I wonder who the scores worked out', here is the list! (Notice: This is out of 100).<p>

1) Evalyn Meyrs: 99

2) Semper Ais: 97

3) Melody White: 92

4- 12) ?

13) May Spears: 86

14) Michael: 83

15-36) ?

37) Xander: 67

38-47) ?

48) Shi: 3

49) ?

50) Ash: 0

Also, if anyone has any ideas on what pronoun I can use for Shi...can you please tell me? I feel very, very, very bad constantly referring to Shi as an it...but if I call Shi him or her it gets confusing. However, I have no idea on what the correct term is...So, any suggestions?


	26. Chapter 25 Mischa and Shark

**Mischa and Shark!**

**The Physical Test!**

"I vow that if you do not give me an B I will come down upon you with all of my teeth tearing your limbs off one-by-one enjoying the succulent screams of your of people as I do so! And with each and every gnaw that I inflict upon your ill-formed body, I will inflict twice that amount on all of your children! Prepare to face the fury and power of my magnificent jaws!" laughed a teenaged boy manically as he stood on Rochelle's desk staring downwards at her.

The boy was quite tall in regards to the other students and would be seen as tall over all. Most people knew him as he had a very sharp kind of angular face filled with rows of teeth. He was wearing a sharkskin jacket, opened where one could see his toned abs, since he wasn't wearing a shirt. He was also dressed in blue jeans with a belt buckle that read 'BITE' and flip-flops. Ordinarily most schools wouldn't take this kind of inappropriate dressing...but the DWMA wasn't most schools.

Rochelle stared up at Shark...he was an odd student and ordinarily she would've been freaked out by any student that gave out such an unwarranted death threat...but this was Shark...he was known for this kind of prank, he did it almost daily to the students and he never ever followed through with it. The reason for this particular death threat was due to the fact that he had gotten a 79 on his test...and due to the DWMA academy rules...rounding a student's scores up is strictly prohibited. So, despite the fact he was only one point away from a B, Rochelle had to stay strong and give him a C.

Meanwhile out in the hallway the young boy's meister was scouring around for him. The Written test may be over...but the physical test was about to begin and she needed both for her partner to be there where they can past the Pair testing and for him to be there so he can pass the single testing and not force her to be take a mandatory remake lesson alongside him! Her head slung down as she sighed and accepted her fate. She was doomed to be stuck alongside with Shark...she sighed as she kept her head hanging.

This girl was Mischa Aldair. She looked a bit odd as half of hair was straight, long and purple while the other half was short, scruffy and blonde, but she was born with it that way...she never understood why she had been cursed with such a weird color of hair, but it was her fate. She had a on a hoodie with wilting purple flower on the back and she had the hood up to keep people from pointing out her hair...but tufts of blonde hair and strand of purple hair both stuck out. She was wearing normal jeans as she slowly walked through the hallways in search of her missing partner.

Finally, through pure luck as she slunk through the hallways she heard Shark's death threat. She sighed as she realized that once again Shark was giving death threats to fellow students...she would've thought that he had learned his lesson after the incident when he gave a death threat to a student and that student fainted...but no...it looked like once again it was up to her to apologize...She stopped outside of Rochelle's office as she could no longer determine where Shark's loudmouth rant was coming from. It didn't sound like it came from further down the hall, but she didn't pass him on her way here. She turned around and faced the doorway. The thoughts slowly began to form and she figured out what was going on, but she remained frozen on the outside of the door, terrified that upon entering the room her worst fears would be confirmed. She slowly and timidly knocked.

Rochelle grateful for an intrusion and interruption to Shark's show was about to call out, but Shark interrupted her. "Come on in, you worthless piece of slime!" shouted Shark with a boastful aire of confidence as he pretended that his was room rather then Rochelle's. He thought about like it was joke, not even thinking that on the other side of the room could be another teacher, Lord Death, or even worse...his partner. He believed it to just be him having fun.

The door slowly swung open and Mischa stood in the doorway. Her fists clenched and hanging down by her side as she glared at Shark, who was still standing on top of Rochelle's desk. Shark stared backwards at her, watching her fume. He sighed and shrugged. He jumped off of the desk landing on the floor, "just think about it, will ya?" he asked Rochelle with a backwards glance as he slowly and coolly walked out of the door. Once Shark was out of the door, he flashed Rochelle one more toothy grin and then he closed the door quietly.

Mischa glared at Shark as he calmly walked down the hall, pretending (or just plain out not noticing) that he done no wrong. He seemed to be oblivious to the fact that he had just threatened a teacher, made them officially late for the physical examination, and also called his only partner a 'worthless piece of slime'. Shark reached into his jeans pockets and pulled out his large, angular sunglasses and he slapped them onto his face to cover up his eyes.

(-15 minutes later at the gym-)

A large group of students had gathered in the gymnasium all of them ready and posed for the physical test. Mischa and Shark arrived late to the test examination, so rather then be in the gymnasium they were both in the changing room with the other late arrivals, there was surprisingly very little of them. Most of the students probably accepted how important this test was and were smart enough to arrive on time. Mischa could only sigh and fume as she thought of Shark's fault.

She changed quickly, desperate to make-up the lost time. She exited the locker room and quickly dashed over to join the rest of the students as the teacher explained the exam rules. The basic rules were that you had to run a few miles, climb a rope, and sometimes they had a swimming portion. The physical examination would be finished up by a small exercise between partners and weapons to see how well they performed together, this varied from student to student.

Mischa turned about and began to dash along with the rest of class as soon as the instructions were handed out. She examined the rest of the students walking with her, but she noticed that Shark wasn't presence. She bit her lip as she thought about it and continued down the path...they were fortunate enough on the mental exam that they passed it with both Shark's and her's not-so-great grades...Mischa had originally thought that their combined grade wouldn't have made it high enough...but it appeared that they lucked out. It was starting to look like they won't be lucking out on the physical exam.

Mischa looked around and saw Shark strolling out of the locker room. Her heart dropped as Shark listened to the examination and then shrugged it off. He turned about and began to walk, rather then run around the gym to accomplish his necessary miles. Mischa stared at him as she ran about...he didn't even seem like he gave a crap about their grade. Mischa stopped short and turned about, running back over to him.

"What the heck are you doing?" asked Mischa trying to keep her voice down and not attract attention from the rest of the students who were actually trying. Mischa kept up with a slow jog next to Shark trying to get him to get serious and start running along with the other students, but he didn't seem interested in the slightest.

"Why the hell should I bother with this?" he asked as he shrugged and continued his slow pace through the gym. "I mean, I just took one test...what's the point of another test right after? Besides we both know that I can run a couple of miles without breaking a sweat easily, so why should I prove it to these guys?"

"Shark!" whined Mischa, "can you at least try? I don't want to have endure another make-up lesson like last semester...or the one before that...and the one before that...please, this is the first one in awhile that we might actually not have to take...please...just try where we can pass this test." Mischa was basically begging for Shark to try.

Shark grunted as he shook his body warming up. He didn't want to do it as it seemed like a huge waste of his time... "Fine," relented Shark with a downcast look, "while this test is a huge waste of time, I guess a make-up lesson is just as big of a waste of time. So, let's get this thing done with right now and...how about you treat me to some fish for dinner, tonight, huh?"

They both began to dash speeding their way around the gym. They both accepted the simple fact that there was no way that they'd catch up to the rest of the students. They were all well on the way, chances are they wouldn't be able to catch up to the rest of them...but hopefully they'd get a good enough time that they'd pass the test with ease...but somehow Mischa doubted it.

The two of them were off to a good start...they passed the running test with enough time left to continue working. And right off of the bat they had to join the original students who were there for awhile at the rope-climbing section of the exam. Both of them were tired from their recent sprint as they stared up at the long rope hanging from the ceiling. This wasn't going to be easy on them. They jumped up and began to climb the long rope up to the top.

They grunted as they finished. They were tired by the time they were finished due to their recent exertion in running a few miles. Their time wasn't going to be that great...if only they had had the whole ten minutes in between activities in order to recover their energy. Luckily, they teachers had crossed off the swimming section (still to Shark's dismay), but all-in-all they considered themselves lucky that they could skip one more exercise routine...next was the teamwork fighting section.

The group of students were led out of the gym and to a smaller training location. Outside of the gym there were hundreds of small wooden training dummies all lined up in the field, some of them with their arms up and ready to block, others wearing heavy armor. The teacher cleared his voice as he pointed at the dummies. "This is the final portion of the physical exam, your mission is to destroy as many of these as possible in the allotted one minute time slot. This is a training exercise to prepare both your mind and body for the hunt against Kishins."

Shark smiled as his body began to glow an eerie blue. His body slowly began to become skinnier and longer. The new skinny and long weapon weaved its way into Mishca's hand and lashed out, part of it falling to the ground. Shark has fully transformed into a skinny whip. At the very tip of the whip was a small metal decoration in the shape of a shark's head. The fin of the shark was incredibly sharp and it shone brightly even in the dim light.

Mischa and Shark went straight to work on the dummies. They brought their whip out in an instant, sending the sharp metal shark head at the top of the whip at top speed towards one of the wooden dummies. The whip smashed into, sending shards of wood around into the air. Mishca brought the whip around and spun it circles above her head quickly. She then brought the whip down while keeping the circular motions going, bringing the sharp shark-head around and into the side of the wooden dummies, Mischa kept going and applied more force onto the whip keeping it going in a circle. The shark's fin dug into the side of the wooden dummy, gripping it and dragging it in the circle. The wooden dummy smashed into one after the other of the wooden dummies knocking them all down and onto the ground.

Mischa kept the rotation of the whip going as she brought it to her side, ready to strike out once more. Just then the Teacher called time.

* * *

><p>Okay, the first pair is done! It is Mischa Aldair by Lavina Abernathy and Shark by ?. I have not posted the poll, yet to decide on which pair will get accepted, okay? And I will not post it until all of the pairs have appeared. For those of you guys wondering, Shark got a 79 on the written test and Mischa got a 86...so they did decent.<p>

For the physical test the results are as follow:

Michael: 83

May: 87

Melody: 90

Shi: 89

Xander: 93

Ash: 87

Shark: 72

Mischa: 74

Also, I should tell you that I have midterms coming up so don't expect an update for a while. And I mean chances are you won't see an update for...anywhere from one to four weeks...


	27. Chapter 26 Student Body President and a

**The Student Body President...and a Psychopath?**

A young man walked...no, it was more of a leisurely, relaxed, and confident movement...more like a stroll...he strolled down the hallway. He was dressed as if he had just come back from a wedding, a pure starch white suit, black dress shoes, and a green shirt underneath his suit. His pocket was swollen from his tie that he had hastily taken off, the first chance he had and stuffed into there. He had light blonde hair and was skinny, but not overly-so. He appeared to be of average weight, no muscles, fat, or visible ribs. He smiled and waved at everyone who walked past him, be it a teacher, fellow student, or even the lowly janitor...and everyone returned it.

In honest fact this was his normal clothing. Shoes, ties, suits, shirt, everything. He was high-class and everybody knew it just from a first glance at him and that was what he wanted. He knew about how to become popular and one of the first things you had to do was make sure people know how great you are, but you still had to be with them...still had to smile and wave at them as you pass by them in the hall. Even if it was all fake. And this boy was popular...he was currently the student body president...much to Lord Death's protests...Lord Death could apparently see through his facade and didn't like the facade...but nonetheless it was the students who voted who was the student body president. And Semper won by an outstanding percentage...over 70% of the students voted for him...he wanted more, he wanted to completely crush his competition leave them with nothing but their own vote (but he would've preferred if he could've gotten that one as well), however, some of them refused to vote for him.

Speaking of which, here came one of them now. "I'm walking here!" shouted a girl as she brashly pushed another student out of her way and to the side. She was dressed in stark contrast to the regal Semper. She was dressed in simple jeans, a tank-top, even a jacket, and to top it all off she also wore combat boots. She had short, yet bright red hair with black undertone. Under her bangs were two gray eyes. The kid she just yelled at was shivering on the ground terrified.

Semper smirked an dragged his tie out of his pocket and quickly put it back around his neck. It was time for him to work his magic. He charged upwards to the girl and the student who was ruthlessly pushed to the ground. He extended his hand to the fallen student and helped him back to his feet. "Rhya," scolded Semper turning to her and staring at her, "You can't just push other students around and to the ground!" Semper turned back to the fallen student, "I apologize on behalf of my fellow student...she really didn't mean, hurry on to your next class." The student nodded and raced off.

Semper and Rhya began to immediately argue loudly. When the young student turned the corner, both of them calmed down immediately. Semper stopped shouting and began to chuckle. "Thank you, Rhya," he stated. While being someone of high-class and lowering yourself to the same level as them earns some votes...there was one thing that made them like you more...and that was intervening and protecting your fellow students from the bad apples...like Rhya.

Rhya smirked. It was another one of Semper's sly plans. He was a natural-born liar and, even worse then that, politician. His entire life was making a big name for himself and becoming more and more popular as time went on. He never made a mistake in his calculation and as time went on...people began to respect him immensely for what he did...or what they think he did. The two of them were Weapon and Meister, which was probably why Rhya refused to vote for him (which sadly boosted his ratings as nobody wanted to vote for the same person that she voted for), after you got to know him you sort of...kind of...despise him. Not to mention, but the fact that Semper was with Rhya also boosted his ratings with the delinquents. They automatically associated Rhya with Semper, so by supporting Rhya, their friend, they support Semper. There wasn't a single move or effort in Semper's school life that wasn't designed to increase his ratings amongst the students. His partnering with her was just another.

Semper smirked and the two of them began to walk down the hallway, of course, they kept a couple of feet difference in their strides. While Semper liked to be associated with her at some times, he accepted the fact that Rhya wasn't altogether and decided that always being associated together like they were two peas in a pod wasn't the best option, which was why he had his parents pay for two separate houses...one for him and another one for her. And by not altogether...Semper meant to imply that something was definitely missing from her psyche...she was rude, aggressive, loud, insulting, and if you can withstand that for more then two minutes you get to see that she is kind of insane...something Semper didn't know about until after they were partnered...although that just made him seem even better as now he was a proud supporter of the...mentally challenged.

Semper wasn't watching where he was going as he was silently putting the finishing his ideas on his latest scheme to boost his approval rating and he was going to pay for it. He bumped into what at first seemed to be a large solid brick wall. Semper bounced off of it and slammed onto the tiled floor. Semper reached up and grabbed his head to steady it from its rather wild swinging. He looked up at what he had ran into. It was Rick...or as the majority of the student preferred to call him, Brick (of course, some of the other students opted for the more insulting Prick).

"Hey watch where you walking Stickman Semper," shouted Brick as he rubbed his shirt clean. Brick was in complete contrast to Semper. He was a heavyset man probably about 250 pounds and not a single pound of that came from body fat, it was all muscle. He was a champion rugby player at his old school and that only made him a thousand times more popular and more pigheaded at the DWMA. Even worse, for some reason (unknown to Semper), this only seemed to attract women to his aid...as a matter of fact his horde of women that followed him were his weapons...and to date he had a grand total of 12 different weapons...

Semper temporarily frowned, but upon remembering that they were in the presence of voters...he swallowed his pride, stood up, patted himself clean, and bowed. "I am sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going." He had to remain the bigger man out of the two, figuratively, and apologizing helped that. However, Brick didn't really care for his apology. He brought his big palm down and on top of his and pushed him down to the ground as he walked past him and towards Rhya, who was standing still as a board a couple of feet back, watching them.

"Hello, there little lady," said Brick as he put his hand on her shoulder. There was a collective moan and gasp, and Semper was sure he heard a couple of cries coming from Brick's large girl-only entourage. "What do you say," continued Brick, "to joining me? I mean a gal like yourself certainly deserves the best...and who is better then me?" Semper almost felt sorry for the guy.

Rhya bent over, opened her mouth, and dug her teeth into Brick's arm. "Do you mind? I have a life over here? You may enjoy living with your harem of mindless drones, but I am not one of those wanna-be barbies and I have no need for a wanna-be Ken! I mean, are you made out of flesh and bones or just plastic? Then again I believe plastic would have a higher IQ and charisma level then you would! I mean seriously? And then you try to touch me with your mizerie* ridden hands? Te gindesti ca densa*?"

"Uh...uh...yes?" stuttered Brick. Semper was trying to stifle a quiet laughter behind him. Brick turned about his face turning a bright red from embarrassment and rage. "Oh, yeah, Stickman Semper!" shouted Brick as he turned about slamming his arm into the back of Semper's head and sending him sprawling forward. "Let's go this is all your fault anyways! I say we should just throw down right here!" He reached his arm out. The girls around him started to wrestle, trying to get ahead of each other. Finally one of them grabbed onto him and transformed into a large blade.

Brick charged forward, swinging his blade downwards upon him. Semper dodged backwards and reached out his hand for Rhya to grab onto and transform into her weapon form. Rhya looked at him like he was the insane one. "What do you want? I'm not one of those hapless idiots following Brick about. Am o viata* and in my life most people have basic manners...so what is the magic word?"

Semper stared at her and thought about, finally deciding that she was right. "Fine...please?" asked Semper. Rhya nodded, her body started to glow a light blue and silver color. She started to disappear and transform into a chain wrapping around and around Semper's arm. Finally the light dispersed leaving a large chain around Semper's arm with a large sickle at the bottom.

Brick charged swinging the sword about and at Semper. Semper ducked letting the blade graze over him, he spun the large chain around and brought the blunt side of the dangerous scythe around and into Brick's side. Brick's body stood strong...he didn't earn his nickname for no reason. Semper stumbled backwards as the force bounced off of Brick and into him. Semper quickly righted his feet and swung out with the chain, bringing the scythe about and towards Brick. Brick brought the sharp sword upwards and slashed it to the side of him, forcing the sickle away from him.

Brick laughed as he brought the sword done upon him. Semper quickly reacted grabbing part of the chain and the chain to absorb the blow and give a little from the force. But the sword slammed into it and it forced the chain downwards and into Semper's chest...Semper was forced to the ground...he let out a brief gasp of air as he thanked the fact that he used the chain to block attack...if it wasn't for the chain that hit him first, the sword would've cut him.

"The staff at this school are pretty ignoranta*," commented Rhya calmly thinking about the surprising lack of teachers or other DWMA staff. The fact that they weren't here was surprising considering the fact that they were making quite a ruckus, but not one of them showed up yet. Semper stopped for a second and examined it as well, interested in the fact that Rhya just brought to his attention.

"Huh," thought Semper out loud as his brain started to work. The little wheels in his head began to turn as he thought about a new way out of this fight. Semper smiled as the thought finished up. He struck out with his chain bringing the sharp end straight around, Brick raised his hand, but the chain wrapped around it and sent the sickle end spinning around and knocking it into the back of Brick's head. Brick grunted as he stood up, he dropped the sword to the ground and reached his arm out again. Once more there was a rush of girls trying to get to him first, finally one of them touched him and began to change into a large golden trident.

Brick charged forward, Semper backed away careful to keep the distance in between them as large as the trident was, his chain was still longer. Semper just needed to redirect them and then he could set up a good victory that way. He dashed backwards...then again a weapon switch would work better, he wasn't too confident that it would work well with a trident. "Come on...I thought we were actually going to get a good work-out...but it turns out as far as a sparring partner goes I would've been better picking a hamster, a snake...or maybe that crazy Shi fellow in our class? I mean, come on... got a hammer or some kind of weapon that could actually hurt me?"

"You want a hammer!" shouted Brick as he tossed the trident aside, ignoring the fact that the weapon was an actual person. "You are gonna get a hammer!" Brick reached out his hand, a collective moan came from the girls as they realized that he only wanted a hammer. One of the girls quickly scrambled forth, transforming into a hammer. Brick charged forward.

Semper dropped Rhya to the ground. The reflection in the sickle was one of understanding rather than worry as she understood what Semper was doing. Brick charged forth swinging his hammer like a mad man. Semper stood still and smiled as the large hammer smashed into him and sent him flying through the door behind him.

Semper landed on the floor loudly. As Brick charged in he was quickly stopped by a group of teachers. "What do you think you are doing?" asked the teachers as they grabbed a hold of Brick. "Attacking a fellow student!" They looked back at Semper as the students rushed up and picked him up, helping him to his feet. "And one that isn't even armed!" Brick looked at Semper who had a foolishly cocky smile on his face. Brick grimaced as he noticed that Semper had intentionally let him knock him backwards and into the gym...he wanted to get by a hammer instead of a trident as well...simply due to the fact that he didn't want to get skewered by the trident's spearheads...Brick shouted at Semper.

Semper simply shrugged and let the students praise him and pamper him. They all coddled him, trying to make him feel better for getting attacked by Brick while he was unarmed. Semper simply smiled as he accepted the praise as he imagined his ratings increasing.

* * *

><p>Rhya speaks Romanian and numerous other languages as well...but in this chapter I kept it pretty simple using only Romanian. I do not speak Romanian, so I apologize if any of the words are wrong...I used one of those online translators things (and I do not trust them), here is what she said:<p>

mizerie=Filth

Te gindesti ca densa = Are you dense

Am o viata =I have a life

Semper really pulled a nasty trick out on Brick, didn't he? And, yeah, I'm sorry for anyone who hated Brick and his cronies...I just always imagined that there was probably someone who just attracted weapons and had twenty of them while other Meisters were left with like...none...so, Brick was poking fun at that idea. Anyways, I introduce the next two of the possible pairs Semper and Rhya. Rhya is by Roxanne and Semper by Wiredrawn. Also for those of you who noticed that Shark wasn't submitted by X, congratulations...there was a mix-up when I was copying and pasting them and Shark got registered twice by two different people...after rechecking the submissions I can now firmly say Shark was submitted by Skull Shadow...I apologize.

Also, just for the fun of it here are some interesting facts about the OC's you guys submitted:

-Matching them up with each other is harder than you think (I got a chart going)

-Almost all males are Meisters. About a ratio of 3 Male Meisters to 1 Male Weapon...

-Females aren't much more balanced with a ratio of 2 Female Weapons to 1 Female Meister...

-Most common personality traits are slacker (4 times) and protective (4).

-There is absolutely 0 guns submitted? 0 far ranged weapons (ignoring May) submitted so far? Aren't we a little biased?


	28. Chapter 27 Idiot's Guide to Kishin Fight

**The Slacker's Book to Kishin Fighting!**

A man in a tall top hat and a long black jacket walked down the street. He was one of the abominably looking men to ever have existed, but that just helped him out...nobody would point him out to their friends for they would then look like an ass, someone who was incapable of ignoring his deformed...ugly...disgusting form. The man was taller then most probably around 7 feet which only made him stand out more. His face was covered with deep black and blue bruises that was in stark contrast to his numerous bright red and pink pimples. His oversized tongue hung loosely from his mouth and made all of his words garbled and mispronounced, not only that but due to his tongue he couldn't even close his mouth and his bright yellow and black teeth were on display for all.

He kept his left hand held steadily within his left pocket. As if his face wasn't detestable enough his left hand would really send the entire crowd into an uproar. The man was a Kishin Egg, but he had a higher IQ of the rest of his fellow kind. He didn't go about indiscriminately killing he had a few rules and regulations to his kills. This was probably the sole reason why he hadn't been hunted and killed like some of his friends. "Look at that ugly as hell guy over there!" shouted a teenaged boy. Bingo!

The man twisted his body to look in the kid's direction. His number one rule? Only kill people who made fun of him. The man walked lamely over to the teenaged boy, his body sagging in a weird way, probably due to the tail that he had which was currently bundled up underneath his long jacket. "Wat was tat, punk?" he declared as he approached him. The boy simply laughed as his ill-sounding voice.

"Oooh, scary!" mocked the boy putting on an exquisite show of pulling his arms up to his face and pretending to be scared. The people around him were all in such a rush nobody wanted to be out at this late hour with the sun already set, and the boy honestly deserved a good scolding. The man smiled as he looked down upon him, his long tongue swishing from side-to-side, this as going to be an easy meal.

The man removed his top hat from his head and pulled it down to his side. This revealed the random bald patches that were on his head combined with the odd dark green color made the man even uglier then originally thought to be. The teenaged boy just laughed. The man chuckled and walked past him, ignoring the teenaged boy's sneering smile, "idiot," the man whispered into his ear. The man disappeared into the alley way behind them. The boy turned a bright red and spun around.

"Oh, yeah!" shouted the boy as he bent down and picked up a loose piece of pipe off of the ground. He charged into the alley after the man the long pipe still in his hand. "I'll show you who the idiot is!" The boy disappeared from the light of the street lights almost the instant he stepped into the alley. The boy looked around frantically still tightly gripping his pipe looking for the man who had insulted him and disappeared. He saw nothing. He scoffed, "moron."

There a loud plopping sound as if someone had just jumped down behind him. He was about to turn around and strike out with the pipe, but some weird long and slimy tail-like appendage beat him to it. The tail wrapped around his throat and tightened up. The man's ugly head appeared right next to his own, the tongue still hanging out, but this time its wet saliva dripping down onto his shoulder. The man let loose a cackle, "idiot."

Moments later the man appeared from the alleyway, his top hat back on his head and a yellow smile on his face. He was content for now...but chances are in a few moments someone else would mock his appearance and he would need to spring into action once more...he was simply making the world a better place. After all did people who were so small-minded that they simply his appearance truly deserved to continue to live...he didn't think so. So he took it upon himself to eradicate those people...it was a busy job, but someone had to do it.

He was slumping down the street when he saw his next target. It was just a girl stretched out on a bench, she had a book clenched in her hand. Her head kicked back over the seat and her arm was spread out over the bench. She was wearing an open black, blue, and white plaid shirt with a white shirt peeking through. Her shorts were over-sized for her scrawny body. She had messy brown hair, probably from sleeping on the bench rather then at home in her bed. Along with that she wore an old bronze necklace...he simply scoffed at her appearance being so unbecoming.

He never understood fashion. He was beginning to think that unfashionable was fashionable among people. As if wearing ugly clothing would make them more beautiful...he hated it. It was as if they were mocking him. As if ugly could be beautiful it as if by that standard he would be the most beautiful thing in the world. He marched over to the bench and sat down next to her, intending to wait until she got up and got moving and he would follow her and do the same thing he did to that boy, but as soon as he made the move to sit down...she woke up.

She looked about, opened her book as if to check for the bookmark, and then left. The man looked dumbfounded as he quickly recollected his mind and began to follow her, although to any passerby it would look suspicious that a man would go to sit down next to a young lady and as soon as she left, he followed, he did it anyways. He was going to get rid of anyone who mocked him or other ugly things.

He followed her for only a couple of blocks when he noticed his luck. She turned down into a dark alley...he smirked. Last time he had to lure someone into the dark alley, but now she was going into there without any accord of his own. He simply slowed down and disappeared into the dark alley, carefully, as to not to attract any more attention. He disappeared into the dark alleyway with a smile on his twisted face. He stopped as soon as he walked into it...the girl was gone.

He was about to turn around and bail when a flurry of simple paper planes flew past him. Each and every single one of them cutting into him with their makeshift wings. He grunted as he was forced downwards as the paper planes all flew past him and onto the street. He quickly scrambled back onto his feet and looked in front of him, the girl was standing in front of him with the same paper planes swirling around her. The book she was holding was now wide open. The papers were flying out of the book and were transforming in midair into the paper planes through folding.

"Wat de 'eck?" shouted the man as he jumped backwards. It took him a few second to register what had happened before the wheels snapped into place... "you're throm te DWMA!" He jumped backwards and produced his claw from his pocket, he charged forward with it attempting to kill them quickly. He had heard terrible things about the DWMA from the grapevine he had tried his best to avoid them and so far he had. His 'supposed' luck had just disappeared in a blink of an eye.

"I'm tired," said the girl as she plopped down onto the ground quickly, letting his claws graze over her head. "Eva, take over." She let out a yawn as she put the book down onto the ground wide open. The pages appeared to be worn, but what was truly interesting was the picture on it. It was a moving picture of a girl. The girl had a light tan. Her light brown hair had some bangs to the side, that often swayed in front of her green eyes as she looked about frantically.

"Helena...I don't think this is the kind of the guy you should mess with," she squeaked as she spared a quick glance over her shoulder to the Kishin, who was now closing in trying to take advantage of the momentary drop in defense. The paper exploded from the book the pages fluttering all about him, he stepped wary off the razor-sharp edges that they had produced last time. But all-in-all the paper is still paper, good at dealing nothing more then paper cuts and without the velocity that the paper airplanes had before, they probably wouldn't even be able to deal many of those. This right here was just a thin veil of defense, but he prided himself on his carefulness.

The actual girl (Helena apparently) only managed to yawn at her friend's reasonable and totally verifiable concerns. Of course, this only worked out better for the Kishin...a weapon and meister are concern, but just a weapon is nothing. His long tail snaked itself loose from his coat and plodded onto the ground. "Helena!" yelled the book called Evalyn. Helena didn't seem to really pay any attention to it and ignored the scream.

The Kishin screamed as he lashed out with his tail, slamming it into the book. Sending it spinning sideways across the cement alley. He laughed as the book smashed into a broken water pipe. He moved in closer, his body leaned over. "Helena!" shouted the book once more, desperate to get its partner's attention. "Helena!" Once more pages exploded from the book filling the air another desperate attack from her.

The Kishin laughed at the pathetic attempt of the book as it tried to defend itself without any arms or legs or even sharp edges. It was truly a worthless weapon. He found it hilarious that it was even accepted to the DWMA. It belonged better in the Idiot's Guide section at a bookstore. Watching it struggle was almost embarrassing for him. The first Meister and Weapon sent to kill him were such weaklings...were they mocking him? He went from laughing to anger. He looked over at the book, such a pathetic thing...killing it would be a waste. Why would he kill such a pathetic thing now? He wanted to kill something more.

The girl. He smiled as he remembered the meister...what a perfect example of something to kill. He walked over next to her, her eyes still shut as she was still asleep. He lifted his claw into the air, a menacing smile on his face. "NO!" screamed the book. He ignored the cry and brought his claw down as quick as he could. His claw dug deep into human flesh, but not of the girl's.

It was the girl from the book, except she was wearing a leather jacket now stained with her blood as it poured out of her body. The green shirt beneath that was just as bad off of. One of her earrings which appeared to be a dream-catcher had been knocked off. The kishin simply smirked as he pulled his claw loose, "idiot," he muttered.

"Since when was it this hard to just get a nap," said the sleeping girl as she sat up. "Evalyn?" she looked at her friend who was now bleeding profusely from the chest. She looked at the Kishin. She slowly put two and two together... "Ah...Evalyn, weapon form. Let's beat this guy up." Evalyn nodded her body began to glow a deep green as it shrunk into a small book. Helena grabbed it and opened it up. "Evalyn." The papers from the book flew out. The pages slowly began to reshape themselves into the shape of swans.

"Hah ha ha ha," laughed the Kishin as he licked his lips with his impressive tongue, "you thould breally take that gul to te hothpital. Fhe breally won't thurvive for long with that rund."

"She'll live long enough for us to win," said Helena confidently. The paper swans all flew towards him. The began to rapidly cut into him all of them spinning about him, the sharp wings began to cut into him. "Looks like you'll die the death of a thousand paper cuts." The Kishin let out one more agonizing scream as he spun about and tried to run out onto the street. He stopped short as the swans began to swarm him and finally he disappeared leaving one small reddish-brown oval-like sphere hanging in the air.

* * *

><p>Okay, the third pair (right? Or is it the second or fourth...I've lost count already...no surprise.) Let's see Shark, Semper, and now Evalyn and Helena (the only girl-girl pair). Third pair (I was right!) Well, I only think I'm going to have one more pair till I post the poll. Why? I'm running out of excellent pairings. Anyways, as with all the other students here are these guys scores.<p>

Evalyn: Mental: 99 Physical: 86

Helena: Mental: 0 (fell asleep) Physical: 0 (fell asleep)

Also, I want you guys to avoid picking the meisters and weapons based on the chapter and focusing only on their personalities and how well they work together, cool? Why? Cause I really think the other pairs had really sucky chapters.

Anyways, since you didn't really get much from these two people (sorry, I was going for quality of chapter rather then quality of character), I think I'll give you a quick summary of their personalities (the main points).

Helena: Lazy student extraordinaire! Overly friendly to her fellow students, but can be considered cocky.

Evalyn: Quiet, daydreamer, and protective


	29. Chapter 28 The Messenger

**The Messenger**

Trouble was always a present situation for the students of the DWMA. They were always worried about the idea of invasion, after all there were plenty of non-meisters and non-weapons living within the walls of the city trying to make some money off of the students that attended the school. And as reassuring as it was that Lord Death was present in the city was only a hollow reassurance. He was only one Shikigami and as a result he could only be in one place. That meant that the rest of the city's defense was up to the teachers and students.

A loud piercing siren rang through the streets. The store keepers all ran to their windows slamming their doors shut along with bringing large metal fences down the window to further the protection that the city had. The loud siren continued. All of the students in the DWMA perked up. Every so often an unauthorized intruder will enter Death City and due to the many, many steps leading up to it, very rarely was that a normal person. All of the students rushed from the school's wall. All of them were charging towards the probably Kishin or witch, determined to get the soul that it would provide them.

A young boy dressed in a black suit and trousers looked up from the book he was reading. He was alerted and interested by the loud siren. The boy had tanned skin and was around 6' 2". He got up from his seat and put his book down. He had a large gray scarf on that covered his mouth. He tugged it loose and spoke, "are you ready, Bridget?"

In the same room was another teenager. She was about half a foot shorter then him. She had light teal hair with bangs that swung widely in front of her orange eyes. She had on a purple midriff T-shirt and tanned cargo capris shorts. As opposed to her partner's classy appearance she was wearing brown engineer boots. She smirked as she took a bandanna out of her pocket and wrapped it around her head. She gave him a thumbs-up as she said, "You betcha, Zeek!"

The two of them raced off, not wasting a second as they were both etermined to get the soul of whoever was stupid enough to invade their city. As soon as their feet hit the pavement they were off racing through the streets and the back alleyways. They didn't know who it was, but they knew both Kishins and witches were smart enough to avoid the main streets filled with prying eyes to alert teachers and Death Scythes the instant they saw something wrong. They had to be out in the back streets hiding from the Death Scythes. That was still no reason to take it easy though, other students and the teachers probably all had this idea. They would have to work fast in order to do the job.

They saw absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. They charged through ignoring all of the problems around them. They leapt over overturned trashcans and ducked underneath low archways. The moved through the streets at an impressive pace. Bridget was moving at a pace that was slightly faster then Zeek's, a feat that would've embarrassed most males, that he was being beaten at a footrace by a female, but Zeek didn't mind. He understood the difference between them, after all he was a weapon and she was a meister. It was just natural that she was faster than him.

Finally they saw it. Or heard it. A low grumbling that could be heard through the back streets. Bridget's eyes opened up and she looked at Zeek. They shared a moment of understanding. Zeek reached out and grabbed a hold of Bridget's hand. Zeek began to glow a light gray color and soon the form of his body disappeared and he swirled around her hand and became a long black sleek pole. At the tip of the pole was a sharp spike and a large gray ax. This was a halberd.

Bridget charged bringing her large halberd around with very little difficulty. The ax of the halberd swung straight at the Kishin's neck. The Kishin brought his arm forward and grabbed a hold of the pole and held it there, forcing the ax to stop inches away from its neck. It smiled a disgusting smile. This was the first time they saw the beast's entire body, before they were so enraptured with just killing the thing, they had decided a quick blow to neck to kill it and then they'd get a look at it, but now that they were frozen in place due to the Kishin's monstrous strength they stopped and got a good look at it.

It was wearing a black robe, intending to hide all of its monstrous features and blend into the modern and everyday life around it. If it wasn't for its inconceivable mutterings and growls it emitted its plan might have worked. At this close range they could tell it was wearing a mask over the top half of its face, letting only its toothy smile show. The hand that it had reached out with and stopped their halberd with was disgusting. It didn't have claws like most Kishins had it was a green and ill-formed human-like hand. Aside from its normal human appearance, it had numerous lumps and warts coating it. On top of that was its yellow and gnarly nails that stretched half an inch off of its fingers.

Bridget pulled back on the halberd letting it slide through the Kishin's fingers and brought the ax sliding through and into the Kishin's fingers. The ax slid right through as it the Kishin's fingers were like butter, letting each and every individual finger fall to the ground. Zeek let out an involuntary 'yuck' sound, Bridget however remained quiet. The Kishin didn't let out a scream, but its mouth remained in its twisted smile. Finally something happened that even made Bridget feel disgusted at.

The warts on the Kishin's finger slid forward onto the newly formed cuts. They began to build up into a gross culmination of warts and bumps. The newly formed bulky fingers began to sizzle and steam as the excess bulk melted down his arm, to form new warts. When the steam dispersed and allowed a new look at the Kishin's hand, they saw his hand with five new fingers present, just as disgusting and green as the last with the same yellowish nails on it.

Zeek's reflection in the axe of the halberd looked disgusted. "I can't believe I just touched that..." his reflection shivered as he thought that if the Kishin's fingers were made out of warts and lumps and other skin deformities, then that just means that he sliced through five long sticks of warts...he knew that Kishins were disgusting and pretty primal beings, but this was a whole new level for him to witness.

"Well, you touched it once you can touch it again!" shouted Bridget as she thrust the halberd forward with all of her might. The spear at the very tip of the halberd pierced the skin of the Kishin. Once more the skin of the Kishin offered no resistance as the halberd just slid into it, creating a moderate sized puncture hole straight in his chest. Bridget pulled Zeek back out of the monster's chest, only to watch in horror as the warts began to once more slowly progress back to the new hole and fill it in.

"We need a new strategy!" shouted Zeek as Bridget backed off just in time to avoid the Kishin's weak slashing attack with its gross yellow fingernails. Bridget stumbled for a moment as she looked at the Kishin's gross body that kept reforming after every blow.

"Fine, then!" shouted Bridget as she brought Zeek up and back down into the Kishin's soft body, "I'll just keep hacking away it until there is nothing left!" She continued with the momentum from the first swing to bring the halberd back around and into the Kishin's body slicing it up once more, sending another chunk of the Kishin flying across the ground. She didn't miss a beat as she kept bringing her long halberd around time and time again without any sight of remorse, just keeping up the swinging motion of the halberd. The skillfully placed attacks that she had been practicing just moments ago vanished into a rapid flailing. Gross green slabs of Kishin landed among the ground.

Bridget huffed and puffed as she looked at the green blobs on the ground. She was about to declare their victory when the green blobs started to move. They began to come together in one pile beneath the large black robe. Soon the pile was complete. It was one big pile of green Kishin sludge. The pile slowly began to reform stretching its body out and changing the position of the blobs until the Kishin was once more a completed form, complete with the dumb smile on its face.

"It just keeps reforming," stated Zeek watching as the Kishin reformed after each swing of his halberd form.

"I know," barked Bridget back at him, "we need to figure out a way to keep it from regenerating." The Kishin lashed out at her once more, bringing its dirty finger nails down at her head. She brought Zeek around once more slashing the fingers clean off of its body. Once more they had to stand back and watch as the Kishin's fingers crawled back onto its body and reattached themselves.

"Its not technically regenerating," stated Zeek with another glance over at the Kishin's body. "The body parts just keep coming back together." Bridget just gave him a look that told him she didn't quite get what he was getting at. "If we can prevent the body parts from getting together, we can technically stop it from coming back together...in theory."

The wheels in Bridget's head slowly began to clink and fall into place. Finally, she lit up as she put everything together. "Okay!" she shouted as she began to look around. Her eyes locked onto a trash can. She swooped the halberd around and slammed the blunt end of the halberd into the trash can, sending it flying at the Kishin. The Kishin slashed it away, but in doing so left its arm wide open. Bridget didn't waste a second. She charged in swinging the halberd at it, separating the arm from the beast's body. The Kishin groaned in pain, but looked back at is arm. The arm twitched and began to move forward, but Bridget didn't let it, with one finely tuned swing of the ax, she brought the trash can tumbling back and set it so perfectly onto the hand capturing it in the middle of the trash can. The arm was stuck within the trash can.

The Kishin remain strained for a second as it continued to look at the trash can waiting for it to move, but it didn't. Its eyes widened as the facts slowly began to form. It was going to get beaten up. Bridget lifted the halberd up and split the Kishin in half with a powerful swing. The Kishin's body fell limp and it slowly tried to come back together. Bridget brought the broad side of the action around and slammed it into the body, sending it flying like a hockey puck.

The Kishin's remaining right eye widened. Bridget brought the halberd down next to what part of its neck was remaining. "Any last words?" asked Bridget as she wiggled the ax around in front of his face.

The Kishin's mouth opened at first, just barely into a smile and then all the way as it spoke, "There is a war coming. I was just a messenger...the real warriors are coming soon. Tell Lord Death that Marburg was just the first...the second is coming."

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><p>Buh...buh...buh! The grand finale! The final group of the competitors! Bridget by Selena M. and Zeek by Draco Oblivion. The poll is now up! (I hope, I have had trouble with polls in past). Please remember to vote. This chapter was designed as the first chapter of the the next Arc which is going to center around the next Horsemen, War! The spot for Famine is still open so keep submitting that Horsemen, but sadly War has hence forth been occupied.<p>

Also for the poll it will be up for the next couple of chapters (I plan to keep it up for about 4 to 5 chapters and then make the big unveiling seven chapters in, but you never know!) Please do not vote for the character just because you didn't like the chapters (base it off of the characters), do not just vote for your character simply because it is your character (don't be an egomaniac), and finally do not just vote for Bridget and Zeek JUST because theirs was the most recent chapter...vote for them if you think that they are the best group, but not just because theirs was the last.


	30. Chapter 29 Preparations for War

**Preparing for War!**

"So remember students to be at high alert for any and all Kishin sightings," stated Quill from the front of the class. While he may have been facing the wrong way and addressing the blackboard rather then the students, they didn't mind. They were still understanding what Quill was saying and were intent to listening to him while he went on about the Kishin invasion. There was a unanimous hush over the students as all of them listened to every word hung on listening to the intent behind them. Even Shi was quiet.

"We have reason to believe that an incredibly powerful being is leading them," continued Quill, "someone who is on Lord Death's level, so I must insist that if any of you see this man or even feel his wavelength to run away as fast as you can get to a secure place and leave it up to Lord Death to handle the rest." The majority of the students nodded, the rest of them scoffed at the idea of running away, believing that they could handle a Kishin at Lord Death's level. "Finally, after today all of the shops will close down and the shopkeepers will leave and move to a much safer location for the time being until this attack is over. So please shop for a week, perhaps even a month's supply of food, water, and the like."

Quill then let out his own sigh as his arms dropped to his side as he continued his lecture, "of course, we have called more and more Death Scythes to the school to help us defend it. We have allocated them about to supply better support for all of the regions, but seeing as how we are currently lacking an actual scythe, Death Scythe...we have ordered them to consider Death City and the DWMA their number one priority. Two of them have already arrived and making themselves at home. I do hope that you'll help them see that this place is like a second home to them."

"Finally," said Quill with a sigh of relief as he was getting tired of talking to this group of student, he could feel their eyes burrow into him. "As a last note the school has decided to end all classes and have the students focus on the impending war." As soon as those words left his mouth Shi got up and ran out of the room as fast as ze* could. Melody shrunk down into her chair, embarrassed by Shi's six-year-old like behavior. Regardless of Shi's absence Quill continued, "please take this time to buy supplies, fortify your houses, and make up your own battle plan. We trust you to defend the home front as well as you possibly can." With that Quill closed up his book and left the room, he had his own problems to worry about. An attack on Death City was unprecedented. In Death City was a weapon more powerful then anything anybody has ever seen before, he doubted if even the H-Bomb was a match for Lord Death when he was in a bad mood. So for someone to recklessly charge in even with an army of Kishins, it seemed like a suicide mission and, yet...and, yet, Lord Death was taking this signal of war with the utmost care. Quill was starting to fear that whoever was leading the charge was truly a deadly competitor.

Michael leaned back in his chair. He didn't feel all too keen on war. He was really starting to panic in the idea about it. He only just recently got his first mission to hunt down a Kishin and he screwed that up and got killed, then they took on Marburg, and they nearly got their butts kicked, if it wasn't for Quill entering when he did...they probably would've had their butts beaten. Michael let out a sigh, "I think when this is done, I'm going to go back and visit my mother."

May perked up at this. Despite knowing that Michael comes from a pretty decent family and that he was an only child, she didn't know anything about his actual family. She never met them, the only thing she knew was that Michael performed perfectly fine without them. He went back to their house, every so often for a holiday. Which was something she couldn't say for herself. Her own thought jumped back to the idea of the war, which caused a certain uneasiness in her stomach. She didn't like the idea of going off to war. She knew that if someone attacked the school it wouldn't end prettily. Best case scenario was that the entire city got wrecked, several students wind up in the infirmary...and they are back to hunting Kishins like nothing ever happened.

Xander had a different thought of war. His normal arrogance easily convinced him that he'd be a hero. Ash would, of course, be just easily a hero, but only due to his strength. Xander had to chuckle and could already imagine the students of the city carry him about on their shoulders. Xander sighed as his own diluted fantasy got away from him. It took a less then gentle nudge from Ash to snap him out of it.

Ash shook his head. He didn't like war at all. Things tended to get dirty during a war. While everybody was imagining the gruesome ends and fighting. Ash was thinking about the streets littered with bodies and the buildings crumbled onto the ground. The dust and dirt and bones and earth and grime and sludge and mess and...and...and...and all the other gross items of war strewn about hanging from street lamps and houses. He hated those thoughts.

Michael, May, Melody, Xander, and Ash all left in a group. After the mission with Marburg, they had decided that sticking together would be wise. Xander stated that he felt like he and Ash didn't need, but he would be more the willing to help out May and Melody, making no promises to save Michael's or Shi's skin if they were in danger. Neither Michael nor Melody had any complaints. "I guess we should go shopping first...before all the good things get taken," stated Melody. The concept of a war had gotten her all riled up and on edge, probably the same feeling everyone else had. They all had the same emotions of nervousness and anticipation. This was either going to make them a hero and a great warrior or they would never see each other again.

The rest of the group agreed in solemn tones. They immediately bought a lot of food as much as Michael and Xander could carry which they felt was enough to last them through the war. May had offered to help, but Michael insisted it wasn't necessary. Following up the shopping treat for food and other rations, they went to the mall to May's insistence. May wanted to get some more clothing for the week that they would be holed up. And since none of them had any reasons to refuse the proposition, they all tagged along.

"These prices are a sin!" shouted a man from a couple of stores over. The group flinched immediately, they all raised their eyes and wandered over to the man who was raising the ruckus. He was an older man probably in his late 40's. He had an impressive build and was wearing a heavy black robe. He had on small round black glasses on which barely covered his eyes. He was banging his fists on the table, he didn't seem to be very serious, but all the same he seemed annoyed.

"I mean these prices are so high! Are you really planning on stealing from these poor men and women?" stated the man as he continued to make a mad rant. People immediately reacted all of them were gathered around watching the debacle. The man continued to shout, "these sinful prices! I am beginning to see a bit of avarice in you! What's next? Sloth? Wrath? Tell me which one of the deadly sins is going to make itself known in you?"

The group were beginning to become intrigued as they listened to him shout. One question was very common amongst the crowd. Just who the hell was this man? He acted like he was a big man and continually berated the man as if he was trying to win the argument by focusing on the man's weak points rather then the actual prices and those facts. Finally the man had emerged victorious getting the apples the vender was selling for only half price. He smiled as he left the place. While he was walking through he bumped into Michael, during that brief interaction he bent down and whispered into his ear, "kishin lover." Michael twisted around and looked at him, but was stopped by the rest of the gang, who didn't over hear the comment. Michael looked down at the ground, when he had bumped into him Michael had accidentally spilled some of their wares onto the ground.

"Hey, now that guy was just rude," stated May with a frown on her face as she began to pick up the less damaged, boxed items. Some of the items were just considered a lost and left on the ground like the broken cans of sauce. "I wonder who the hell is? Or who the hell he thinks he is for that matter?" She sighed as she looked Michael, who still appeared semi-dazed.

Ash arrived with the answer to May's question, "according to the buzzing of the other students around us. That man is Enma Judge. He picked the name out for himself and even changed it to his official names on all of his birth certificates. He is one of the Death Scythes Quill mentioned today during his lecture." Ash let out a brief sigh, "and he is definitely not someone we should mess with. He has the highest Kishin killing rates of all of the current Death Scythes and possibly the highest kill-rate ever. Rumor has it that he goes on monthly raids of possible Kishin hideouts and destroys them all without even breaking a sweat."

Xander gave Ash a look of disbelief, "please...those are just rumors. He probably just did once, and even then it was probably with the help of Lord Death or another Death Scythe and everybody just blew it out of proportion. Nothing to worry about. Personally, I think we should go up and beat the crap out of him with our bare-hands and make him apologize to Michael and pay us back for the damage to our food he caused!"

"No, no," said Michael calming his friends down as May piled more of the boxes into his arms. "Everything is fine. Not much was damaged, besides we'd probably drop most of this stuff on our way home anyways." Xander grumbled, but he knew in the end launching the offender was no good if the victim just shrugged it off. Xander shrugged as the group left and headed back down and away to their house.

They decided to hole up in Shi's and Melody's house, which in comparison to either May's or Michael's house as bigger and all in all the location was better then Ash's and Xander's. Ash's and Xander's were a bit of a longer jaunt from the school and far more isolated. With Shi's and Melody's house not only was it bigger, but they were also near a lot of other students so if need be they could help other students out or if they needed it, they could be helped out.

The group arrived at the house to Shi's loud hammering in the upper loft. They all flinched as they heard him going nuts upstairs. "Is it important that we now what he's doing?" asked May as she flinched as she heard a loud drill sound.

"I'm pretty sure he is just fixing up the room...maybe blocking the windows...maybe drilling a hole in the wall for no reason," said Melody with a frown. "Its kind of hard to tell with..." Melody was caught off from her speech by a girlish shriek. The entire group looked at Ash.

"Look at all of the filth on the ground!" shouted Ash pointing at the floor. Melody and the rest of the group looked down at what appeared to be a perfectly clean floor. There wasn't a single clop of noticeable dirt on the ground.

"I...I don't see anything," stated Melody. May and Michael nodded their heads in agreement. Xander simply brought his own palm to his face in disappointment. Xander quickly buried his head into his hands in shame,

"Are you crazy?" asked Ash, looking at them like they didn't know what they were talking about. "It is very dirty! Melody where do you keep your broom and dustpan." Melody opened her mouth to respond, but was apparently not fast enough as Ash continued talking, "never mind. I'll just use my own!"

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><p>Everybody remain calm. I know this is probably the worst thing that could happen, having a dirty house, but remember Ash is here. Anyways, the Kishin Lover comment from the Death Scythe will make sense in a future chapter (probably not during this arc), but soon after it. Just hold your horses. Not much action, just a little bit of what goes through these guys' mind (except for Shi's) during the preparation for a war. And, yes, you will see what Shi was working on during the next chapter.<p> 


	31. Chapter 30 Moments Before the War

**Moments Before the War**

"Lord Death," stated Quill as he walked in before Lord Death himself. "The students are now all holed up and the shopkeepers have all left." Lord Death's eyes narrowed as he examined the map of Death Scythe. Quill was standing behind him waiting for the answer. "What's the matter?" asked Quill as he looked around the room, worried that Lord Death left him alone in the room without telling him. Lord Death had several X's marked all over the map he was examining, trying to determine the most efficient locations to place the teachers. He wasn't going to take this time lying down, he needed to create a better defense then the enemy could create an offense. It would be whoever had the best positioning of their groups would be the winner. And since Lord Death knew his opponent, he knew he would have his work cut out for him.

He didn't speak for awhile before answering Quill, "Its becoming harder and harder to figure out the right defenses. The students have been left to their own devices...they should be able to defeat some measly Kishins, real problem is going to be the person leading them. Where are the Death Scythes that I ordered to return to base immediately?"

"Enma Judge was seen in the market place the other day...causing a scene," stated Quill, "should I call him here where you can give him the orders?" Quill's hand moved away, but froze in the air as he couldn't find the mirror that Lord Death commonly used for talking to people an incredible distance away. Lord Death shook his head and leaned back.

Lord Death suddenly remembered that Quill couldn't see him shake his head and quickly responded, "no, no. There is no need. He'll probably be jumping around and trying to destroy as many Kishins as he can. What about the other one?" Lord Death turned around and faced Quill, Quill paused for a second as he thought about it. He actually hasn't heard about the other Death Scythe entering the city yet. If he truly wasn't going to come, they would be down probably about a third of their fighting force.

Quill was starting to worry about it. Their original plan was to use three Death Scythes in conjecture with Lord Death to push back the attacking forces and slowly whittle them away with the regular weapons and meisters...but without the second Death Scythe, their plan was shot to hell. They still had Enma Judge who was more then capable at defeating several Kishins, but the real problem was that if Enma Judge fought with another Meister, then Lord Death would be weaponless as he didn't have any real training using Rochelle. That meant that Lord Death would be forced to use Enma or another run-of-the-mill weapon.

Quill suddenly shook his head realizing he hadn't actually answered Lord Death, yet. Lord Death sighed as he returned his attention to the map and continued to write out battle plans. He wasn't going to be able to rest until he figured out how to better beat the enemy this time around. His messenger made it clear that HE was coming and with Marburg already been damaged and probably going into hiding, which meant that only one more was still hiding.

Chances are as soon as Marburg hit full health he'd be marching back here to reclaim the world. He still didn't like Lord Death for imprisoning him in the Prison Jar. Especially since Marburg firmly believed that all human beings deserved to die, he spent his entire time trying to keep them in line and humans kept going at it. When Marburg rose up, Lord Death managed to beat him down once, but that was only because the other two stayed out of the fight. They ignored the fight and decided that the fight should just be between Marburg and Lord Death. Luckily Lord Death won and managed to lock Marburg up...the other two were not big fans of sealing Marburg, but they accepted it as Marburg was a bit out of control.

Lord Death thought, more like hoped that would be the end of it. Things were quickly becoming more and more troublesome. If things continued like this for any longer, the Armageddon will be upon them in a few moments. The more and more time passes the more and more he was starting to worry, one-on-one he would probably be able to win, but without another Prison Jar to seal them up, they'll just keep popping up again and again. Even worse this time they all seemed to be against him. If they all came at him simultaneously...he probably would lose. He paused for a second and sighed, no...while they probably had a firm hatred for humanity and him, but they were still honorable people...they wouldn't attack him simultaneously.

Lord Death stretched backwards. "Send out a memo to all Weapons and Meisters. Tell them to be on their toes and be ready for the attack at all times. And..." said Lord Death as he sat down in a nearby seat and reclined, "tell Enma Judge to meet me here. As much as I don't want to...I suppose I'm going to have to use him as my weapon. I'm going to need to be at full power if I hope to defeat our opponent."

Quill paused and thought about it. He didn't know anything about Enma Judge, other then his rather overdone and outrageous actions towards anyone he believes committed a sin. Rumors have it that he can even sense what sins a person has committed and reacts accordingly. He could understand why Lord Death would hate him. Enma took everything to such an extreme manner, while Lord Death seemed to be so laid back...honestly this was probably the only time Quill ever saw Lord Death ever actually working. Quill nodded and quickly used the mirror to call Enma to the room. Enma would no doubt respond to it and arrive in a few moments...they would just have to wait for him to arrive.

(-in the enemy base-)

"Wa ha ha ha ha!" shouted a large man as he walked through the halls of a small movable base. Hundreds of Kishins were all gathered around him waiting for their marching orders. They all had an extreme hatred for Lord Death. They were all gathered about waiting for the one moment to come that they would storm Death City and the DWMA and finally end Lord Death once and for all. There thoughts were all about taking down and destroying the students. Once they did they could gorge themselves on all the souls they could find. True not many people could stand up to Lord Death, but they knew that their leader could.

The Kishins all looked up at the man who walked among them. He was their leader, and yet he was not anywhere close to a Kishin like them. He was something else altogether. He stood at a rugged and manly 6 and a half feet. He had a weird dark ochre skin color pulled taunt over bulging muscles. He looked at each of them with piercing green eyes that told them that if they weren't on the same side as he was...they'd already be dead and he wouldn't have even had to exert himself to do so.

He wore heavy armor from the waist down. The armor was bulky and looked like even if a cannon ball were to smash into his knees it wouldn't break through the layers of armor. Although based on his own bulk and rumors of his prowess, he probably didn't even need the armor for that. On top of that armor was a torn plate skirt. He didn't have a top on, which was just as well. Without the top his chest could be seen by all. Upon his chest were a grand number of tattoos all carefully chosen and extracted from warrior tribes. He was without a doubt the truest embodiment of war.

Even if one could get past all of his harsh and threatening exterior, they would be soon be frozen in their tracks as their eyes locked onto his weapon. Upon his back in a crudely designed sheath was a large, no...even large was an understatement to this immense Goliath of a weapon. The blade alone was equal in size with the man. The hilt added an additional two to three feet in length. On first look one would say the blade was mistreated and never ever tended to, its entire body was dull ashen gray that had probably never seen a polishing cloth, but the edge of it was different story. The edge was a sparkling, majestic silver that had been polished and sharpened many times over.

The man sauntered through the halls with an air of not only belonging amongst the crude Kishins, but more of ownership. He strode through the halls not once changing his direction or slowing down, Kishins panicked to get out of his way and make room for him. There was no 'if someone didn't get out of his way' they all sensed him coming whether they were looking at his entrance or not. They all felt his bestial killing intent wash over and through the halls, they all heard his heavy feet pounding against the rough surface of their floors, yes, even those who were absorbed in the idea of the impending war were sucked out of their daydreams of heroism and dashed out of his way. Yes, it was fair to say that he did, as a matter of fact, own all of them.

They all panicked and scurried about in different directions wasting no time in making sure the big man was happy. He stopped as he walked about and turned around to see the Kishins had all stopped what they were doing and staring at him. He had no idea why. Whether it was out of admiration for his skills or jealousy of his strength, perhaps both...maybe neither. He turned about and looked at his followers, he didn't know what was running through their heads at the moment these few precious seconds before battle. But he knew for sure they weren't the same as his.

He had no illusions of this fight making him a hero. He knew that when this fight was done with he would be labeled as a murderer by both friends and foes alike. He also had no fears or dreadful thoughts about the war to come. He knew that whatever happened was for the best and he knew that he wouldn't die...even Lord Death himself couldn't kill him. He was for all rights purposes during this battle, the true lord of death. He would kill as many students and teachers, and innocent bystanders as he possibly could. His mind was already brimming with different methods for murdering his opponents. And whether or not Lord Death wanted to admit, one of them was already underway.

He returned his attention to the Kishins before him. He sighed, ordinarily he wasn't one to speak, but he supposed all true wars began with a rallying speech to one's subjects. He cleared his throat loudly, the Kishin's all looked at him and he was sure that even behind the masks that several of them wore, their eyes widened with a mix of anticipation and fear. "As you all should know by now, I am Vigrid. I am the leader of our troops. I plan to destroy and do away with the pesky DWMA once and for all." He looked out at them unsure of how to continue, he normally didn't associate with Kishins. Not due to their behavioral patterns, but because they tended to be bad conversationalists.

"You guys are Kishins!" shouted Vigrid loudly, his voice booming and echoing through their halls. "You guys are innately stronger! You have more power then any human has naturally! Just remember they are worthless without their weapons while we have claws, teeth, and power! We can smash through any of their defenses!" Vigrid calmed down and lowered his voice, "while we cannot expect no causalities...we all know that if the problem of the DWMA persists they will lead to even more then this war will. So, today we fight, we die, and we win!" The Kishins agreed with a loud uproar. "That is all!" shouted Vigrid unsure of how to end a speech, while he knew a lot about war...he had no interest in these moments. They had no real reason to them, especially in war. There had no strategic or military support to them...they just wasted time and, if you were lucky, boosted team morale. He shook his head as the Kishins dismissed themselves and returned to their duty.

Vigrid smirked to himself as he looked out the nearest window at Death City. He was going to enjoy his battle with Lord Death.

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><p>Okay, honestly this was one of the hardest chapters to write and one of the easiest. I hate writing as Lord Death...he's too...wacky and insane. I mean, every single time I've seen him he's either acting like an idiot or he's being too serious. I mean there is no middle ground with that guy. But as hard as that was, writing as Vigrid was about as equally easy. I mean, serious a battle-minded fellow surrounded by millions of idiotic Kishins. EASY! Also, a special thank to ManInTheHat for submitting him. Also, for you slow people (you know who you are), Vigrid is the Horseman of War.<p> 


	32. Chapter 31 Out in the Night

**Out in the Night**

The moonlight shown through the window in the room as May impatiently paced about. She was a little bit worried about sleeping in this room with Shi sleeping next door. She looked over at Melody who was as fast asleep as she could possibly be. She really couldn't sleep, she didn't understand how Melody could. She would've expected her to at least by a little bit anxious about the war or at the very least the fact that Xander, Shi, and two other boys were sleeping in the room next to them. May examined the multiple locks that Melody kept in place to keep Shi out, May sighed as she undid them and walked out of the room and to the living room down the flight of stairs.

May walked down and sat herself down on the couch. She flipped through the television shows as she laid out there on the couch. She laid her head on her hands and started to get bored. She wished she was back at her room, as far as things to do were concerned, her room was filled with more interesting items. Ordinarily she would be busy with checking and shuffling through her clothes, but now she couldn't. She was starting to fidget in the couch as she thought about her own closet. She sighed as she stood up and approached the door. She opened the door and stepped out. It would be a quick 10 minute jaunt at the worst. She'd be there and back and since the war hasn't started yet, there would be no problem. It made perfect sense to her to run out of here if she couldn't sleep and go back to her place to get some things that would help her. After all, if she didn't get any sleep she definitely wouldn't be of any help to the rest of the group. These and a thousand other rationalization rushed through her head as she tried to figure out whether or not she should risk running out of there just to go home, but something told that despite all of these reasons it still wasn't a good idea. Regardless of that thought, she left anyways.

Considering everything it would probably be even better as there would be no other jerks or other problematic people gathered around and messing with her. This would be a very quick thing, she continued to rationalize. She'd just run over there, grab some more of her things and slip back in. Nobody would ever even know that she went missing. She grabbed a flashlight and dodged out of the house and was on her way in moments.

The streets were still all well lit. While it made little sense since most people were comfortably in bed right now, sleeping and snoring, but Lord Death demanded it where they can keep their eyes out for Kishins. May kept herself alert as she looked left to right. Her eyes continuing darting from one alleyway to the next, with nothing more than a pile of garbage or a stray cat. She had no option though, while right now it made no sense due to the lack of dangerous items down the alleys, but she knew that the moment she saw a Kishin crouching in one of the alleys, she'd thank her stars that she did this mundane scan.

She never noticed how eery Death City was. She should've put it together from the name alone, (Death City, like that wasn't asking for any bad news), but the city as vastly transformed at night. The houses she would've strove past by during the day suddenly became haunted, the stray cats had shadows the size of mountain lions, and the laughing sun had been replaced with such a psychotic moon! She grumbled as she jogged down the path, she didn't want to spend one extra second out here then she had to.

Her apartment came in to view just a little bit ahead of her. She raced off with renewed speed as she past more and more buildings. She got to the doorsteps fairly quickly. She fumbled around in her pocket in search of her keys. Her hand passed by her wide-selection of make-up and the like. Finally, she managed to wrap her finger around her keys. Her hand was still shaking in panic from the depressing atmosphere of the night. She gently inserted the key into the lock and twisted it, as soon as she heard the door unlock itself she forced it open with all of her might and barged in. She didn't waste a second in spinning back around and re-locking her doors, just to be safe. There was no such thing as too safe if you are a young woman...during the middle of the night...in a war...with blood-thirsty demons outside. May double-checked to make sure the locks were all secure.

She returned to scouring through her room. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she was returned to her own sanctuary. The closet she had here was twice the size of Melody's, if not more. Her bed was lavishly decorated with all of her things. Her miscellaneous items were scattered about the room. This was definitely her room. She pulled things aside and into a small bag as she checked to make sure she got everything that she needed. Some of these things were less then essential, but she felt the need to grab them just in case. They ranged from extra sets of clothes, a couple of CDs and her CD player, and finally she also stuffed some of her comfort food into her bag. With her bag being properly filled she slung it back over her shoulder and headed towards the door.

(-With the boys-)

Shi and Xander were both huddled against the wall with a glass pressed against it trying to listen in to the girls. Finally, Shi and Xander both pulled back and smiled. They set their glasses down onto the floor. "The pacing finally stopped!" said Shi with gleeful determination. Ash's hand sneaked past them and grabbed onto the glasses pulling them away from the two miscreants. He took out a small wash cloth and immediately cleaned the two glasses without them noticing.

Shi disappeared into his closet busying himself inside the closet. Michael was already stretched out in a nearby chair, he had firmly decided that no matter what Shi and Xander were planning, he didn't want to be a part of it. Ash didn't trust them to keep the place clean, so he really couldn't sleep out of a panic. Instead he stood up and sat next to them cleaning whatever they decided to discard. He finally restored the glasses to their original luster. He put the glasses down and sat back waiting to see what the next thing they would dirty would be.

Finally Shi reappeared from the closet producing a large cart. It had a long cord sticking out at the front. Shi wheeled the cart to the wall and stuck the cord into the wall. He smiled as he turned it on. A small red light lit up. A small portable TV screen that was attached to the cart lit up. An image of Melody's room came to light. Xander and Shi both watched it intently, waiting to see what was going on in the room. "After years of research and planning, I have finally built the perfect spy device! Best of all, the timing is even better! Now I get two girls for the price of one!"

"Ordinarily, I'd be opposed to this after all women are our equal and this is just disrespectful to their rights, but I'll make a rare exception to my own rules and regulations due to our own comradeship, but this might possibly be a once-in-a-lifetime chance," stated Xander trying to sound like the reasonable man who was being roped into the shenanigans, despite being just as interested as Shi.

"I don't always admit this," stated Ash as he took a cloth washcloth and began to clean the miniature computer screen, "but I'm a clean freak." Ash backed away and examined the screen before he began to clean it again, "so, as this is probably the dirtiest thing you two have ever conspired together to build, I am going to have to politely...LOOK AT ALL THE DIRT IN HER ROOM!" shouted Ash as he jumped backwards, an expression of utter horror on his face, "how the hell am I going to sleep knowing that's next door?"

Michael shifted about in his seat as he woke up. "Really? Still trying to spy on the girls at..." Michael turned around at the clock which read 12:48. "After midnight...am I the only one who is taking the war with the Kishins thing seriously?" Michael stretched his arms and legs, once more due to habit then requirement as he shuffled his feet ff of the chair and onto the floor. He walked over to the machine and looked at it... "where's May?"

"Ooh hoo hoo hoo!" whistled Xander, "looks like somebody is interested in spying on the girls after midnight. Screw the war!" Xander returned his attention to the screen and budged Shi. Shi quickly returned to the controls and began to move it about. As the small camera head swiveled about, they found nothing. No sights of May, just Melody a motionless lump in the bed.

"Damn..." muttered Michael as he stood up and headed towards the door, "I'm going to go find May. Anyone coming?" Ash took another look at the screen and with a shiver his hand shot up, anything was better then staying this close to a mess like that. Xander and Shi shared the same look of quiet judgment for their colleagues. They shook their heads and returned their attention to the screen. Michael sighed and walked back over to the machine he brought his fist up and right back down upon the machine crushing it with his golem arm. "Anyone coming?" Michael asked again. Both Shi and Xander grumbled an 'I guess'.

The four of them grabbed a flashlight for each of them and set out. Shi taking his time writing a small note for Melody and sliding it under her door. They all bolted out of the room and into the streets all of them rushing behind Michael as he led the way to May's apartment. Their footsteps were clanging loudly against the stone pathway as they bolted together down through the street ways. They were moving quite steadily through the streets, none of them making sound, all of their focus was on getting to May's and back as quickly as possible.

"STOP!" shouted Ash as he dodged to the left, tackling Xander and knocking him to the ground. Both Michael and Shi managed to drop to the ground in time. A long chain with an spiked iron ball spun around above them.

"Crap, what the hell was that?" muttered Xander as he stood up and grabbed onto Ash's arm. Xander's body shrunk down and wrapped around Ash's hand forming a sharp bladed gauntlet. "How the hell did the Kishin get so far in without setting off any alarms? Besides, I didn't think Kishins could even use weapons!"

"We are going to have to split up," grumbled Michael, "Shi return back home to Melody and wake her up. I have a feeling it will only be a few more minutes until the sirens go off. Even worse the Kishins would probably even move in and start attacking houses at random. Xander and Ash will back me up on the way to May's house. If possible stay at Melody's house and wait for us to get come and join you. If not" Michael paused and looked around him. He stopped and pointed at the school's gym, "go there, chances are a teacher is stationed there protecting, got it?" Shi nodded.

"Let's go!" shouted Ash jumping up ready to go. Shi broke off from the group racing back to the house. Ash and Xander turned about and faced the direction in which the spiked iron ball came from. Ready to face whatever would come next.

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><p>Definitely troublesome moments for the group. Michael and May are separated and Melody is asleep. Only Ash and Xander are fully functional right now. And who in the world is attacking them? How could somebody slip in through the defenses of Death City without setting off any alarms? It looks like the real war is finally beginning.<p>

Also, for those of you who haven't voted get going on it. Right now it is currently a tie between Mischa and Shark and Helena and Evalyn with three votes each. But Bridget and Zeek are close behind with two votes. And Semper and Rhya have one vote...how come I got 9 votes, but not even half that many reviews?


	33. Chapter 32 Chain Sickles Assault

**The Chain Sickles Assault!**

The large chain ball came soaring through the air once more this time coming downwards upon them, falling to the earth. "Move!" commanded Ash once again as both him and Michael simultaneously dodged the deathly blow watching it smash into the ground causing a lot of debris to fly up into the air. Michael lunged forward and grabbed a hold of the large iron chain ball. The problem with using a melee weapon, even one with such an impressive range as an iron ball on a chain, is the fact that if your opponent can get a hold of your weapon it several limits your movement.

"No!" shouted Ash, "let go of it!" Michael's knowledge on melee weapons was severely limited and lacking. He learned the basics to countering them and that was it. The iron chain ball was a weapon in a whole other class from weapons. Michael didn't let go of it fast enough. The wielder quickly twisted the chain around swinging it around and around Michael and then pulled it tight. The chain was wrapped completely around Michael sealing him tightly. Michael grunted as he tried to break free from the vice-like iron grip.

Ash could only let out a quick sigh of relief. If it was him in the iron grip of the chain he would be dead, the chain would burrow into his skin and squeeze him to death. Michael's body wasn't as feeble as his was, nor did it require any more room to let the organs move freely. While it felt cruel to say that he was happy that it was his teammate in trouble and not him, he really was. And just as importantly, Michael was still managing to hold his ground with the chain wrapped around him, which meant on the other end of the chain was his target.

Ash took off like a rocket with a wave of his hand to Michael to tell him everything would be alright and headed off in the direction of the chain or at least he wanted to. Just as his feet were about to burn down the chain to the opponent another loud whooshing noise made itself apparent. Ash spun around and quickly jumped back alongside Michael. He brought Xander up and deflected the flying sickle that came slicing through the air back to where it came from.

Ash breathed heavily as he took note of his opponent. The iron ball on the end of the weapon was just the counterweight that traditionally adorned a chain sickle. The weapon was said to be one of the deadliest ones invented. Not only could the user adjust its range by letting more of the chain become slack, but it wasn't a stiff weapon like a sword making its attack pattern easily adjustable and hard to read. Combo that with the devastating strength of the counterweight alongside the precision cutting abilities of the sickle...and that was the weapon they were facing. Shi's yo-yo was similar to it, except it was no way near as devastating.

The bad news just kept piling on as well. The location they were in was designed for long-ranged weaponry. It made the location of the attacker even harder to locate. If it wasn't for the fact that Michael was tied up they wouldn't have a single clue as to where their attacker was due to the interference of the buildings. Not that it would help at this point. Since Michael didn't have his weapon, there was no way they could turn this into a long-range versus long-range fight...and since Ash couldn't leave Michael's side due to the threat of the sickle coming in they couldn't turn it into a close-range versus close-range. The only logical move would be for Ash to abandon Michael and hope that the sickle didn't kill him before Ash found the attacker. But he wasn't about to do it.

Ash looked back at Michael who was, in no doubt, probably coming to the same conclusion. Ash had to keep calm, he had to figure out some way to beat this Kishin...or whatever it was. Ash looked back down at the chain...he highly doubted that he would be able to cut it and free Michael. The sickle came flying through the air once more this time its blade aimed directly at Ash's neck. Ash brought Xander up once more and deflected the chain to the side. "He's far away," stated Ash as he watched the chain disappear into the darkness. "The time in between his attacks is far too long for him attacking from just behind the buildings." Ash looked back the chain that was tied tightly around Michael. Ash took Xander off of his hand, "Xander, we need to free Michael." The reflection on the gauntlet's blade nodded. It began to glow and returned to Xander's original form. The two of them each reached into the space between Michael and the chain and began to tug and pull while Michael tried to squirm free.

Finally through luck they managed to free him.

Michael landed on the ground, within seconds the counterweight slithered back to its owner. Xander lit up once more and wrapped around Ash's arm, returning to his weapon form. "Michael, go get May and come back here...I don't think we stand much of a chance if we can't engage these two from a distance." Michael nodded and dashed away down the path, running to May's apartment. Ash returned his attention to the darkness in which the chain sickle users were hiding.

"Ash," stated Xander, "be honest with me. What are the chances of us surviving long enough for Michael to get May and return here?" His reflection was also staring into the darkness trying to find the Kishin who was preparing to launch an even deadlier attack. The number of targets they had was just reduced to one.

"Probably very, very small..." muttered Ash as he braced himself preparing to charge forward. "Do you want me to call him back? Cause I'm pretty sure we can handle two stupid Kishins by ourselves." Ash was smiling as he stared down the path towards the weapon user that was trying to kill them.

Xander's reflection shook his head, "no way, we don't need him. Heck, I'm still not sure if I even need you." Ash nodded his head in agreement and dashed off down through the alleyway that the large iron ball disappeared into. "We just got to keep our eyes open for whatever attack comes from whatever direction."

"You freakin' jinxed us!" shouted Ash as he threw himself down onto the ground avoiding the sickle that was sent flying through the air and at them. He breathed out a sigh of relief as the sickle passed across above them. Ash's eyes widened as he heard another weapon cleaving through the air. Ash rolled over to the side as far as he could go and watched as the large iron ball smash into the ground next to him smashing a large crater into the ground. Debris clattered all over the ground several small rocks flew into Ash's side. Ignoring the minor pain from the stone shower, Ash quickly brought himself back up and dashed off towards the direction of the weapon keeping his eyes on the iron chain as it slithered off to its controller.

Ash took off hunting down the path to the attacker and his weapon. Ash followed the chain down the path, never letting his eyes leave it. His footsteps sounded loudly as he charged down the stone path. Once more he dodged downwards as the perilous sickle came flying around through the air once more, swinging rapidly with its sharp edge at him. He felt the scythe graze his tuft of hair that perpetually stood up on his hair. Ash quickly stood up and quickly dashed off. He was refusing to slow down on his pace. He had to find the attacker before they launched another attack on him or Michael.

He finally saw the building he had to assume housed the attacker. It was a large and abandoned old church. It was like straight out of a horror book. The stained glass windows that normally would let the light in and out had been smashed wide open allowing for the two weapons of the chain sickle to come through and hit Ash. Ash had to wonder if this location was chosen for its functionality with the broken windows and shelter or if it was just chosen for the eerie aura it produced. Ash was about to turn away and check the other nearby buildings when he saw a form muddied by the shadows of the building, it disappeared deeper into the building and to the bottom floor.

Ash charged in through the door and faced the attacker. He froze as he saw the worst case scenario. Not even that. This wasn't even a scenario he had played out in his mind. He had assumed that the attacker would be big, strong...he assumed that the location would lay in favor of the chain sickle weapon rather then a gauntlet...but he hadn't assumed two Kishins would be waiting for him. Each of them wielding their own respective chain sickle, one of them using the chain to attack and the other relying strictly on the weight to hold off and defeat Ash. The two of them each had a cruel smile on their face as they looked at Ash with the same interest as a predator on his prey. "Kind of wishing we didn't have Michael run away now..." muttered Xander as he looked at the two opponents.

They were similar in appearance. Each with a bright clown-like mask over their face with the same stupid red lips contorted. One of them with a big, sadistic smile, the other one wore a big, nauseating frown. The two of them both slumped forward one step. One of each of their legs were oversized and with massive toes running out of their feet, with gnarled yellow toes. The other leg was much more well-kept with neatly clipped toenails and small, slender, almost womanly legs. They each stretched their arms back and sent both of their weapons flying. The weight swinging down across the ground, just barely an inch above it with the sickle flying high above the ground aiming at Ash's neck.

Ash ducked and ran underneath the high swinging chain and then quickly jumped up bringing his feet up above the weight, successfully dodging both of the two swings. The Kishins quickly rushed him, rushing after him letting their chains fall down behind them as they attacked him They brought their small and slender arms around aiming for Ash's head with their bulky fingers. Ash quickly brought Xander up to his side blocking Smiley's swing, but Frowny's swing came through smashing into Ash's gut knocking him down. Ash grunted as he quickly flipped back onto his feet.

The two Kishin's backed up and began swinging their two weapons again preparing for another attack. "We are lucky brother, aren't we?" Frowny stated, his creepy frown just opening and closing as he formed the words. "We found the first Meister and we are gonna take him out!" His attitude was in stark contrast to his facial expression.

"I thought we saw two of them," mentioned Smiley with a mopey voice, "Vigrid is not going to be happy when we report that two of us could only take down one..." his voice trailed off as he muttered more, but Ash couldn't distinguish what he was saying due to his voice not to mention the fact that his mask was messing with his voice.

"Who cares!" shouted Frowny with a loud booming voice, "We will bring this one back to him and then go back out on the hunt! We'll be able hook another ten or so stupid Meisters with our tricks! We will easily take him down and then another ten or so like we were planning to do originally. So, let's get going on defeating this young kid." Smily nodded, reluctantly.

"Looks like we have our work cut out for us," whined Ash as he looked at the two Kishins who began to swing their two weapons around readying to strike at them to knock them out.

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><p>Okay, the war is finally getting to the exciting part with Ash running into two possibly opponents at the same exact time. Not only that but the rest of the group is currently without their partners, these chapters are starting to become dangerous...how much longer will the students be able to survive?...I'm sorry...that is a pretty pathetic closing, isn't it? I apologize...<p> 


	34. Chapter 33 An Unexpected Problem

**An Unexpected Problem...**

Ash brought his gauntly up at the very last moment blocking the swing from the iron counterweight. The powerful swing smashed into his gauntlet and forced him backwards. He stumbled as the second Kishin brought the sickle around and at him aiming for the head. Ash purposely fell downwards to avoid the second swing of the sickle. He quickly brought himself back up to his feet and charged inwards, winning against these two Kishins with their chain sickles was definitely going to be difficult. Even if he ignored the fact that there were in fact two enemies trying to kill him, he was going against long-range fighters. Closing the distance would be problematic.

The Kishins shared a brief laugh as they both brought their weights around, one aiming at his feet, the other one aiming just above at his waist. Ash leapt up into the air to avoiding the two swings. He looked up and noticed one of the Kishins had already prepared its sickle and was preparing to throw it. "Xander!" Ash shouted. Xander's reflection in the gauntlet's blade nodded in response. "Let's go! SOUL RESONANCE!"

Xander's blade lit up and lengthened itself. Ash brought is around and smashed the sickle as it came close to him to the side. He landed and continued his charge. He quickly brought his blade back around and into his skin, cutting himself and bleeding onto the blade. The blood quickly hardened and formed small daggers. Ash ripped them from his gauntlet and chucked them at the twin Kishins. They brought their two weapons around and brought their chains colliding with the small daggers, knocking them off of their original trajectory.

Ash hadn't stopped. He had almost closed the distance between himself and his target, Frowney. With one final leap from the ground he found himself within striking distance. He brought his fist forward, stabbing Frowney squarely with the sharpened blade. Ash's face grew worried as the Kishins' skin offered resistance to his punch. Ash quickly pulled the punch back onto to meet with the sickle of the Kishin as it came about slashing into Ash's back, gouging a cut into his back. Ash stumbled backwards with a grimace on his face.

"Oh ho ho ho!" laughed Frowney as he pulled his shirt out of the way revealing small silver iron links that were attached to each other, "we are so lucky Vigrid advised us about these weapons. I mean, this chain mail really save my life right then...not to mention these weapons! He is really smart!" He looked over at Smiley whose head was slack and didn't seem interested. "What's the matter now? I'll survive! I mean I got hit and he got hit, its a pretty fair trade, don't ya think, brother?" Smiley just sighed.

Ash quickly stowed the name Vigrid in his mind. Whoever he was gave Kishins both armor and weapons. He would have to talk to Lord Death about this and try to garner more information...if he got away from these two psychopaths. He already had a nasty scar from these two attacks and only one of them was injured, if it wasn't for the chain mail he had been wearing the attack probably would've finished him off, turning the fight to Ash's favor or at the very least leveling the playing field. However, that didn't happen, he'd have to formulate a new plan of attack adding into it the armor he now knew the Kishins had been equipped with.

He looked down at the blood daggers that hung onto Xander's blade. He still had three of them, enough for a decent rush, but would they even be able to pierce the armor or would it just be a waste of time trying to incorporate them into his plan. He stepped back as he took in the his two attackers. They were both slowly stepping forward, first with their large oversized leg and then with their smaller leg. Their two weapons were swinging perfect unison as they slowly stepped closer to Ash and Xander.

Finally, they both swung downwards with their heavy weights, both of them were at different lengths. Ash grunted as he jumped forwards refusing to allow them to scare him away and regain the distance in between the two. The two weights smashed into the ground, breaking the paneled floor up into small shards.

Ash stepped forward and tossed his small daggers forwards aiming at the two of them. The two of them quickly brought the sickle sides of their weapons around and spun it rapidly around in a circle deflecting the small incoming daggers. Ash quickly tried closing the distance once more while their weapons were busy spinning around in a circle. They quickly stopped the rotation and loosened it once more firing their weapon off with an almighty swing. Ash dodged backwards, just a bit allowing one of them to swing just barely in front of him while avoiding the other one completely. While the two weapons continued their own respective swings, he charged again. Quickly closing the gap between him and his target. This time he closed in quickly on Smiley. He made a quick jab at him, bringing the blade forwards and into the Kishin's thick chain mail, once he confirmed the fact that he, too, was wearing chain mail he took another step forward and further drilled the blade into him.

The Kishin's eyes grew wide as he felt the punch hit him. He tried to back up and get away from Ash, but Ash refused. Ash kept on him sending one punch after another with his gauntlet and even his other arm. The Kishin kept trying to back away and put some distance in between the two, but Ash remained on top of him never letting him get out of arm's reach. "Stop attacking my brother!" shouted Frowney as he brought his chain sickle around sending the small weight flying at Ash. Ash quickly wrapped his fingers into Smiley's chain mail and then stepped back pulling Smiley back as well. Smiley turned his head around as he noticed the small iron ball come flying and slamming into him, despite Frowney's best efforts to stop it.

"Guess you should've gotten a helmet from your friend, Vigrid," stated Xander as he and Ash watched Smiley lay on the ground completely stunned from the swing. Ash quickly switched his attention over to Frowney, whose grip on his weapon had become lose as he shared Ash's amazed look on Smiley. "Wanna take a moment to go cry to your mommy and tell her a bunch of little kids whooped yours and your brother's butts?" Xander's reflection was making numerous mocking poses as he laughed at the two Kishins.

Smiley burst open reverting to a plain old red ball floating in the air, signaling his final defeat. Frowney turned about and faced the opponent. "You jerk!" Frowney brought the large weight around and tossed it at Ash. Ash brought his gauntlet up just in time to block the swing. Frowney didn't let up and quickly flung the sickle at Ash as well. The weapon wrapped itself firmly around Ash's gauntlet. Frowney quickly pulled back dragging Ash straight back to him. Ash braced himself as he flew straight into Frowney's punch. Ash was knocked backwards, his hand still locked up due to the chain sickle wrapped around his arm.

Frowney began to spin his weight as he approached Ash. "You just had to bring his mom into this, didn't you Xander?" asked Ash as he glared at his partner. His reflection just shrugged in reply. Ash tugged on the sickle that was wrapped around his arm, incapable of escaping from the approaching Kishin. Any attempt would be rendered useless as with just a simple tug on the chain Ash would be sent flying back to the Kishin. Ash grunted as he jumped up and charged at the Kishin. Ash brought his entire body around and fired a single punch using his gauntlet. The Kishin laughed as he brought the weight arcing back down on top of Ash. Ash dodged to the side letting the weight smash into the ground, he took one final step forward and brought his arm forward, bringing the blade forward. The blade slipped right into the holes in the chain mail and kept going into the Kishin's body. Ash's follow-through sent the Kishin flying across the ground.

The Kishin quickly scrambled back to his feet. He was bleeding pretty badly now with two holes in his chest from Ash's blade. Ash re-examined the sickle that was wrapped around his arm. It hadn't been loosened from the Kishin's flight. The Kishin hadn't let go of the chain all the way through its flight, if anything it only made it tighter. If it had been on his other arm rather then the one with the gauntlet on it, his arm probably would've lost all blood flow. It was only a matter of time before the gauntlet began cracking under the pressure of the chain.

The Kishin was back onto his own two feet once more swinging the weight around above its head preparing for a long and powerful swing. The Kishin let it loose, as he swung the weight around horizontally. Ash hit the ground, hearing the weight swoosh above his head. The Kishin leaned backwards and tugged on the chain that was wrapped around Ash's arm, sending Ash skidding across the wrecked floor, sending dust, dirt, and rocks flying up into his face and onto his clothing.

(-with Michael-)

Michael was charging through the streets to May's apartment. He hoped that Ash and Xander were holding up well enough on their own. He knew they were both more then capable in fights, but he couldn't help but worrying about them. Then there was also Shi, Melody, and May who were in just of a bad spot as they were. A loud clanging sound was heard behind him. Michael turned around and his two hands automatically took up a bow stance despite the fact that he was unarmed at the moment. "Crap...I'm also all alone." Michael began to slowly back-up keeping his eyes on the way he thought he heard the clang. His two hands brought to his body in an inexperienced boxing pose.

He slowly stepped backwards with a quick check to both of his sides, before turning about and bolting back in the direction that May's apartment was in. He really didn't think it was this far away, he must've underestimated the distance. He could only assume that May did the same thing, but luckily the building was almost in his sight. He charged up to her room and stopped outside. The door was wide open and the doorknob appeared to have been bitten off along with half of the door. Michael charged in swinging the door open as far as it could go. The room was messed up. Michael slowly walked through there, looking around at everything that was tossed about.

Several of the chairs and other pieces of the furniture were all tossed about and broken. He kept his eyes out for any signs of May or her attacker, but he saw nothing. Michael breathed deeply, desperate to calm down and think of a what had happened to May. He walked into her room and looked around. It had been a long time since he had been in there. The last time he had been in there was probably when they first met. He still didn't see anything that would tell him where May went. Michael paused as he bent down and picked up a lamp. He may look like a fool about to use a lamp as a weapon, but he felt like he needed a weapon of some sort.

He crept through the house finding nothing. He couldn't find anything, he couldn't find anything. He was seriously screwed over right now. He breathed deeply trying to figure out the best way to handle this. He was beginning to worry about the Kishins. First the one that attacked him and Xander and now this one? They were slipping in through the city walls and going undetected, pretty well. He was about to turn around and return back to the Shi's and Melody's and get more help when he heard something. He could've sworn he heard the sound of glass breaking. He turned about, the lamp still in his hands. He slowly began to walk forward towards the sound.

* * *

><p>Once more an unexpected problem for the gang, sucks to be them! For those of you who read my other stories, you probably saw something like this coming didn't ya...what can I say I'm a sucker for tales of kidnapping. The war starts off with a hidden attack and a kidnapping talk about disastrous happenings...duck and cover men!<p> 


	35. Chapter 34 Finally Some Good News

**Finally Some Good News**

Michael crept through the room, taking his time as he examined the room for any signs of life or movement. His eyes were locked on the dark spots of the room desperately trying to find the location of the intruder. The sound of another glass breaking rang out in the room. Michael twisted around to face the sound...still nothing. He slowly started to pick up his feet and head off in the direction. He stopped out in front of the kitchen, there was some quiet mumbling coming from inside. Michael was breathing heavily...he was up a creek without a paddle and in a war without a weapon.

He made a quick spin and looked into the room, just barely putting his head beyond it and into the room. It was way too dark, he could barely make out a figure and the broken shards of plates splattered about on the floor. Michael quickly dodged back into the room and looked around for something to attract the intruder's attention with. His eyes locked onto the light switch on the other end of the room. He slowly tiptoed to the other side of the room. The light switch was right next to the door to her bedroom. He flipped the switch and dodged straight into the bedroom as the light flicked on.

Another plate dropped and broke as the intruder noticed the light coming on. There was more muttering that was made intelligible due to the distance and the walls in-between them. Michael listened in closely as there was some quiet footsteps as the intruder walked into the room, checking the place out. Michael lifted and examined his only line of defense, an old lamp. Michael prepared to swing it the instant the intruder entered the room. As soon as the Kishin's head entered the room he would bring the lamp smashing into his face.

The voice of the intruder slowly became more and more clear as he crept through the house. Michael held his breath as the intruder spoke, "who turned the light on?". It was a girl...that was the first thing Michael put together about the voice, but it wasn't May. Michael and his lamp remained at the ready. Kishins can be girls, too...for some reason they didn't seem to be quite as common as male Kishins, but there was still some girl Kishins. Michael breathed deeply keeping his eye on the door for the head to pop which should be coming up soon...she'd noticed the light switch and put two and two together.

"I wonder where May is?" stated the girl's voice once more. Michael's shoulder slumped for a few seconds, but they quickly sprang back up as he readied another swing...just because they mentioned May doesn't mean they care about her or even know about her. They could just be trying to trick him...he kept his eyes trained on the door next to him. Swing first, ask questions later. That is best way to approach war and anyone who might be an enemy.

He paused as he saw the head pop in the door. Michael didn't even pause to check the head out, he swung the large end of the lamp around bringing it into the intruder's face and knocking her back. Michael breathed deeply as he waited a few more seconds for a response, "ow...did someone just swing a lamp at me?" Michael sighed as he walked out of the room with the lamp still in his hand. He looked down at the poor girl who he just knocked down.

"Elena?" asked Michael as he reached out and pulled her up to her feet. The girl was Elena. She had a slender frame and a heart-like face. Her reddish-brown hair was wrapped in braid and slung over her shoulders. Her eyes were a vivid color that was a mix of green and gray. She was probably here due to her friendship with May. Michael rarely hung out with her personally, but he knew May hung out with her. "I'm sorry about that I came here looking for May..."

"So, you can hit her lamp?" asked Elena, not quite understanding Michael's reasoning. "I saw May come in here by herself. I was going to come out and join her, but had to do some things first. When I finally made my way over here the door had been bitten open and the like, I came in here for some clues and I was checking out the kitchen to see if she where she went...I was hoping I could team up with her and, you know, she could defeat the Kishins for me."

Michael nodded as he remembered that May told him about Elena's rather lazy habits. "Do you have any idea about where May could've went? Did you see where she went?" Michael looked around the room, "or for that matter where your partner is?" Michael backed up and looked around for him. He couldn't seem to remember the name of her partner, it wasn't all too surprising as he probably only met him once outside of class, it was pretty close to a fluke that he managed to remember Elena's.

Elena shrugged. "I figured once I found May and her friends...I'd be safe with or without my partner." Elena yawned as stepped back into the kitchen and began scrambling through the cupboards. She didn't even bother turning on the light, "you want to know something I don't understand? What the heck happened to the door? I mean, I thought as soon as a Kishin steps into the city there would be a loud siren alerting the students...I have yet to hear a siren."

Michael tapped his foot as he thought about that. The lack of siren is true, especially since the two Kishins attacked him and Ash. He highly doubted that they would hold back at all and chances are they are wrecking the city as the speak. With the destruction of the city and all the crap that they causing, the sirens had to sense that Kishin and now probably the Kishin that just attacked May...Michael sighed, "what weapon are you?"

"I'm a katana," stated Elena as she looked up at Michael. Michael let out small groan. He was definitely not used to using close-ranged weapon. A gun, another bow, heck he could even make do with a gauntlet or a yo-yo from sparring with Melody and Ash. He couldn't do anything with a sword. "Are we going to go and meet up with May, now?" asked Elena.

"We so are going to try," said Michael as he started out for the door and opened it, holding it open and watched Elena slump forward and drag herself out of there, muttering something about how things weren't going according to her plan. Michael ignored and marched out the door with her, determined to meet back up with Shi, Melody, Ash, and Xander as soon as possible. If possible meet back-up with Elena's meister would be helpful as well. The more, the merrier. Michael backed up and closed the door as the two set off towards Melody's and Shi's place.

(-Meanwhile with Ash and Xander-)

"I'm dirty!" cried out Ash as he quickly stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a couple of wet wipes from his pocket and began desperately wiping his clothes clean with it, trying to get rid of the dirt that had been thrown at him from his kishin attacker's technique. The Kishin tossed its weapon at Ash once more. The sharp sickle neared Ash's head, the sharp blade closing in as Ash ignored it, too consumed with the small problem of the dirt that was sticking to his shirt and pants.

"ASH!" shouted Xander as he transformed back into a human and pulled the neurotic Ash out of the weapon's path and to the ground out the sickle's trajectory. Luckily, when Xander became a human again the tight wrapping of the chain around the gauntlet came loose and Ash was freed. Unluckily, however, when Xander pulled Ash out of the weapon's path he brought Ash down into the ground once more, causing another dust cloud raised up around him clouding his eyes and dirtying him further. Ash complained as he tried to bring himself up to his feet, but he couldn't stop thinking about the dirt even as he watched the Kishin prepare for another swing with its chain sickle. "You need to focus on the Kishin not on the dirt! The dirt's not trying to kill you!"

"Dirt contains germs, germs can cause numerous infections and diseases, and some of those diseases result in death, painful symptoms and other problems," complained Ash, "to conclude other people get into trouble more and more often due to this. We are supposed to put our best foot forward and its impossible to do that when we are dirty! So, therefore dirt is completely bad and should be avoided, so therefore I try to avoid its not my fault other people cannot see the problems with that!" Ash was still trying to cleanse his arms of the dirt and other crap with his small wet wipes, but it didn't seem to be accomplishing anything.

The heavy weight came swinging through the air next. The weight came smashing at Ash. Xander pulled Ash out of the way of the weapon. The Kishin rushed in at an incredible speed forcing his entire body onto Ash and knocking him down. "Don't even think that you are getting out of this fight uninjured! I'm going to crush your ass without even trying! I'll bury you within that dirt you hate so much!" The Kishin brought the weight back around and at Ash.

Xander quickly grabbed onto Ash and reshaped his body into the gauntlet. Ash knocked the weight out of the way with a simple swing of the gauntlet before refocusing on the dirt that covered him thoroughly. Xander's reflection was incredibly annoyed as he could only watch as Ash panicked about the dirt on his shirt. "We need a new strategy or at the very least something about how to get you ready to fight him again...as much as I'd hate to say it, I think...I...think...the best idea is to...re-retreeeee-retreat..." Xander said stumbling over the word, he hated to say. His own personality would normally not allow him to even think those words, saying them killed a small part of him.

Ash paused as he listened to Xander say that. Xander was normally strong-headed and arrogant, if he would be willing to sacrifice that idea of his, that bull-headed stand of his, Ash could handle being dirty...for a few seconds. "Sounds like someone is chicken of a little Kishin like this? I can't wait to tell May and Melody about this..."Ash did a half step forward preparing to fight with the Kishin. Xander's reflection looked at Ash and shook his head as the two of them prepared for the incoming Kishin.

The heavy weight came sailing at them. Ash drove to the side avoiding the weight and closing in. He tried to keep his thoughts trained on the Kishin, but he couldn't seem to stop thinking about the blasted dirt on his shirt. He just needed to get in close as possible and hope that he can finish it off with one punch as quickly as possible. A highly unlikely possibility...but it was his best bet. The weapon was indeed as troublesome as he had thought it would be. The Kishin was becoming more troublesome then the witch was.

Ash charged in covering the ground quickly. "Ash! Duck!" shouted Xander, Ash did so without a thought. The Kishin had pulled back bringing the sickle back aiming for the back of Ash's neck, if it wasn't for Xander keeping an eye out for any sneak attack that blow would've been the end. Two pairs of eyes was definitely helpful. One kept their eye on their opponent, like Ash, the second one for any unseen sneak attacks. Ash had closed the distance quickly, he was finally within striking distance of the Kishin. He brought his fist forward and at the Kishin's face, no chain mail there.

The Kishin brought the chain up and used it to buffer the blow, barely blocking it. The gauntlet's blade slipped into one of the chain links. Xander smiled his weapon began to glow transforming back into the human, Xander flipped over the Kishin's body and to the other side, bringing the chain back with him. The Kishin's arms were stretched backwards, completely obliterating his guard. Ash brought his bare knuckles forwards and into the Kishin's face, repeatedly beating the crap out of him with just a flurry of punches.

The Kishin was forced backwards and he twisted backwards, falling over Xander and onto the ground. His face was disfigured and badly damaged. He finally passed out, his head hitting the ground hard. Xander grabbed onto Ash's hand, returning to the gauntlet form. Ash sighed as he brought the blade downwards and into the Kishin's face, breaking it into pieces and into the small red Kishin egg.

"We did it," huffed Xander exhausted from the fight. He looked over his shoulder at Ash. Ash had collapsed onto the ground, twitching with fear as he was still covered in mud and dirt from the fight.

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><p>Elena Foxx is a character designed and submitted by DOK 93.<p>

Looks like some good news has finally struck. Ash won and Michael found an ally rather than an enemy. We can only hope that this streak continues.


	36. Chapter 35 One Lucky Girl

**One Lucky Girl**

Shi rushed to Melody's room. He didn't waste a single second and began banging on the door as hard as he could trying to get her attention. "Melody! Melody! Melody!" Shi shouted as he pounded on the door again and again. The large door was rattling with his pounds and the locks on the other side of the door made it even louder as the metal chain clanged against the door. "Come on wake up! Ash, Xander, Michael, and May need us! They could die horrible deaths because you were lying in bed sleeping!"

Melody wiped her eyes clean as she sluggishly pulled her feet off of her bed and onto the floor. She stood up and walked towards the door still only half-dressed in her pajamas. She dragged her feet, her slippers making a sweeping noise with every step. She stopped at the door and looked up at them...they were undone...did May get up in the middle of the night and forget to redo them. Her narrow half-closed eyes examined the room slowly sweeping across it. May was gone. She didn't even see a note from her. She yawned as she grabbed on the doorknob, twisted, and pulled the door open.

Shi came tumbling in and in one swift movement wrapped his arms around Melody's body and grasped her butt. "So soft," muttered Shi. Melody lifted her hand up and quickly brought it back down and into Shi's head, knocking him loose. "Oh, come on! Is that anyway to treat your partner? I went an entire night without seeing you, you know! The least you could do is let me get a quick feel!"

"I hope for your sake that you didn't wake me up at 1 in the morning to get a quick feel, cause if you did...you are in a for a loooonnnnngggggg beating." Melody clenched her fists together as she looked downwards at her poor excuse for a partner. Shi looked up at her and began to rub his head where she hit him, "where's May and everybody else at?" asked Melody as she took another quick look into her room and saw nothing. "Did they go downstairs or something?"

Shi shook his head, "no! Apparently May went back to her house to grab something, but she never came back. We went after her, the other guys didn't really want to but I talked them into it, after all she is my friend!" Melody looked at Shi with contempt, she believed that Shi would want to go out after May but for a much more selfish and perverted reason than friendship. "Well, anyways on our way there we were attacked by a Kishin! He launched an attack, I had to come back and get you since the only team we actually had was Ash and Xander!"

"Okay, okay!" shouted Melody as she pushed Shi out of the room, "I'm gonna change and come back out. We'll go out in a couple of minutes so just get ready until then!" Melody quickly slammed the door closed, ignoring whatever it was that Shi was about to say. She quickly pulled her nightgown off and went back to getting ready, dressing in her favorite clothing. She emerged moments later, grabbing Shi and charging off. "We don't have a moment to waste, so guide me there!" Melody commanded. Shi nodded, his entire body morphing into a thin string and fitting into Melody's hand. The string reaching out and acting like a homing device, stretching out and pointing in the direction they were meant to go.

Melody raced off, following the string. She was starting to worry, the fact remained that the entire group was gone and were under attack. That premise probably stretched out to include the entire school. She needed to get to Ash and Xander as quickly as possible together their chances of surviving probably would double or more. However, she also couldn't stop thinking about May...

(-with May-)

May slowly came to in the dark holding cell. She looked around her and felt a slight twinge of panic as she looked around. There was a small man next to her. She crept forward through the cell and tapped him on the shoulder. The man huffed and turned around. May let out a shriek as she saw his face. He was wearing a mask over his eyes, but his teeth were large and sticking out over his top lip. The man sighed and turned back around and faced the wall in front of him, "do you mind? Its late and I'm trying to sleep...I really wasn't planning to get any stupid prisoners this early in the war. But now I got two! Talk about bad luck."

May backed away and into the corner of the cell. The words began to sink into her head. She was kidnapped by the Kishins and being held hostage. She cursed herself quietly for leaving the house. But the siren hadn't sounded and it wasn't like they were anywhere close to the outside of the city. The siren should've sounded and then ten minutes later the Kishins should've gotten to her apartment. But the siren never sounded. The Kishins shouldn't have been anywhere close to her apartment...so how did she get captured? Was the siren not working like Lord Death had planned? Or was it not a Kishin that kidnapped her?

She looked over at the small Kishin in front of her. She didn't really believe that he could've carried her here. He wasn't even four feet tall and he seemed to be painfully bored watching her. More then likely he was just the Kishin that got stuck watching over the prisoners rather than being on the battle field. He was falling asleep when he was supposed to be watching her. She moved forward and checked out his belt, he didn't have a single key on him, not like it would make a difference. If she broke out by herself she didn't believe that she would be able to get all the way out and back to the school without being re-captured by the Kishins...or worse.

May sighed as she backed up against the corner and slumped down. She had to just wait for Michael and the rest of them...if they noticed she was missing. She assumed that Melody would notice right away, but whether or not she would wake up in time was the real problem. Who else would notice it? Nobody else was in the room.

As May was off in her own world focusing on other facts, there was the sound of heavy footsteps as a Kishin neared the jail cell. The Kishin was tall, over 9 feet tall, and had to duck under the doorways and even hunch-down in the hallway as he neared May's cell. He smiled as he grasped the cell's bars and looked in on May. "Hello, young lady. I hope these accommodations aren't too mean. I hope you won't take it out on us, we just moved here and our funds are stretched a bit tight as is. Kishins don't make much money."

May stayed in the corner of the room as she stared over at the Kishin. "Are you the one who captured me?" asked May as she slunk down father into the corner. The Kishin cleared his throat and looked to the side.

He bent down and tapped the smaller Kishin on the shoulder, "I'm going to relieve you of your duty for awhile." The smaller Kishin nodded and ran out of there as quickly as he could. The large Kishin sat down on the outside of the cell. "I'm not very good at not standing out due to my size, so I didn't dare to enter the school grounds...not until our first soldiers breach the walls. I highly doubt I will leave after all I'm Vigrid's right hand man."

"You do know you Kishins have no chance of winning, right?" stated May as she stood up and approached the bars, "we got Lord Death and three Death Scythes! There is no way a bunch of you stupid Kishins could attack us and win!" May crossed her arm and huffed out her victory with a proud smile.

"Three Death Scythes?" muttered the Kishin, "oh, right...Three Death Scythes!" He seemed to be playing...a slight hint of sarcasm and something else on his tongue. "After all, if one of them were to be captured or even just delayed on his journey here due to some of our troops. The result would be catastrophic, no?" He stood up and began pacing in front of the cell, his eyes never leaving May. "I mean it would be a big problem. It would completely disrupt all of your plans and Lord Death would have to start all over from scrap..."

"You're kidding?" said May as she rushed to the bars, grabbing hold of them and leaning her head forward and through the wide bars. "How did you do it? I mean, how did you know about him coming down and helping us out?" May looked over at the Kishin, who was still walking around in front of the cell.

"We have our methods..." he stated plainly. "You meisters and weapons aren't the only ones who can think of plans. Vigird is a genius, he's battled side-by-side with Lord Death several times and then he watched the battle between Marburg and Lord Death when they fought. He has put together a series of anti-Lord Death tactics from these fights. Together with me and his other advisers we have managed to create several other rather unexpected techniques together that Lord Death won't be able to see coming. This fight will go to us...without any trouble."

"What makes you so sure?" said May as she moved back into the cell and sat down. What they were saying didn't quite fit right. Lord Death and his attacker fought together back in the day? Why would he be attacking Lord Death if they were allies? And why now? Did it have something to do with Marburg? There must have been some pieces missing from what she knew. For now the only beneficial thing for her to do would be to bluff and help protect Lord Death and the school, "even if Vigrid did create several anti-Lord Death tactics, Lord Death also has advisers we would still have several of our own tricks that Vigrid wouldn't have seen!"

"This is war, honey," mumbled the Kishin as he leaned forward and poked his head through the bars of the cell. "There is no man in the world, Kishin, Shinigami, or otherwise that knows war better than Vigrid. Vigrid lives, breathes, and eat war! He's a genius in wartime! Tactical prowess, strength, and all the like! We've won the instant he decided to join sides with us. I mean, we've already basically won! Nobody is going to deliver rations to the school during the war. You guys are stuck with the rations you obtained before we started our attack. And with an entire student body to feed, you will slowly run out of rations and only person strong enough to take the attack to us and Vigrid is Lord Death himself, but he can't leave school grounds. Anybody else leaves that school, Vigrid'll slaughter them. This is a war of attrition now."

May backed up further as she took in what he had just said. Its true. All delivery trucks were told to avoid the school until further notice, there was a large amount of students and teachers that needed food. The only question would be whether or not the teachers and the Death Scythes could pave a path for food to come in. In other words it would all depend on whether or not Vigrid was really that strong.

The Kishin smiled and stood up. He turned his back to her, "I'll let you think about what I just told you and mull it over for a bit. Just think about it, soon enough you will be the only Weapon or Meister alive and its all because you were captured by us...you certainly are a lucky little girl."

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><p>...I am really bad with remembering the whole disclaimer thing...so I officially apologize to DOK93. He is the one and only creator of the character, Elena Foxx, and I forgot to give him credit for her. I have went back and edited the last chapter to include this disclaimer. But I am still very sorry for forgetting about it.<p>

Other than that I hope you guys are starting to put together how truly deep crap the school is in. Limited supplies, one of their Death Scythes missing, along with the fact that the Kishins have already taken a prisoner!


	37. Chapter 36 A Plan of Attack

**The Plan of Attack!**

Michael went straight to the gym with Elena in his hands. Elena decided that it would be 'less troublesome' for her if Michael carried her. Michael was originally hesitant at first as he highly doubted their two Soul Wavelengths would match up and he would more then likely burn his hands or something of the like, but when he picked her up nothing of the sort happened. He assumed that something should've happened and did happen, but he didn't feel it due to his golem body. Strangely enough Elena hasn't commented even once on Michael's weird circumstance.

They went to the gym because Michael decided that since it was closer he would easily be able to get there even without a weapon or in this case, a weapon he couldn't use. Not to mention that it wasn't closed off from the rest of the school, like Melody's apartment was, so there was a chance of Elena's partner showing up. They got there quickly enough and Michael looked around, but so far it appeared that they were the only ones.

Michael yawned and sat down. He just remembered that it was the middle of the night. Even if someone else was here, they would be asleep and probably not too keen on helping out the guy who woke them up. Michael crouched against the wall, but kept his eye on the door anxiously awaiting the arrival of his teammates and dreading the arrival of a Kishin.

"Michael!" shouted Xander as he appeared from the boys' locker room and walked over to him. Michael stood straight up and went over to greet his friend and reliable ally in this war. "I'm surprised that I met you here. I was expecting to be the only ones here for awhile." Xander looked over at Michael and noticed the lack of a bow. "Couldn't find May, huh?" Michael shook his head. "Whose the sword then?"

Michael lifted Elena up and held her out, "Elena Foxx. A friend of May. She was hoping she could hang out with us and increase our numbers for the upcoming war. The more, the merrier, right?" Xander nodded his head in agreement. "Anyways, how did the fight go and what are you doing here?"

"We won!" shouted Xander proudly, "but was there ever any doubt? I mean, its me!" Xander pointed at the boys locker room. "Ash is currently cleaning himself up as he got a little dirty during our fight and was freaking out about it. We figured since our two options were Melody's apartment or the gym and the gym was closer we'd come here and clean up first. Then we'd just hang out here and wait for you guys to come and get us for an hour or so." Michael nodded understand their view point.

"Michael! Xander!" shouted Melody as she barged in. Michael reacted without even thinking bringing the sword around and down, just as he had seen in the movies. He relaxed when he saw Melody's face running up to him. "Where's Ash and May?" she asked immediately noticing the absence of two of her friends, "and whose the sword?"

"Ash is in the shower, May is god knows where, and the sword is Elena Foxx," replied Xander, who was already getting tired of saying and hearing the same questions and answers over and over again. "Looks like everybody is here who we can count on...so, what's the plan, Michael?" Xander turned his attention over to Michael.

Michael sighed reluctantly, "I believe May was taken by the Kishins. There was a large bite mark taken out of her door, the place was trashed, and I know May. She would've left a message or some kind of sign if she had simply ran away and gone into hiding. There would've been a broken window hinting that she panicked and left trying to escape a Kishin or a peculiar arrangement of items to show that she left in a certain direction. Nothing of that sort was laying around."

"Shit," complained Xander as he knocked down a nearby garbage can, spilling its contents. "So, much for a good start to a war...if that's even possible. So, we go report it to Lord Death or something? See if there's been any messages from the Kishins discussing a negotiation?" Michael shook his head. "Then what do we do? Sit around and do nothing, we've got to do something! And I sure as hell as don't want May to get hurt!"

"This is a prisoner of war situation," stated Michael. He understood a thing or two about war. His father as a war veteran. Michael grew up listening to war stories instead of bedtime stories. "Ordinarily, we may have seen about an exchange, but Kishins don't really care that much for one another. One Kishin for one student wouldn't be a fair exchange. More then likely it would have to be one student for ten Kishins."

Xander muttered something and accepted Michael's explanation. Ash came out of the shower. He was re-dressed in his clothing as he walked over to the group. Xander quickly filled him in on the current situation before he could are ask about where May is and who the sword is. Ash sighed and said, "it looks like we don't have any options. I guess, we'll just sit here and wait it out."

Michael shook his head. "I'm not," he said into his hands, "I'm not going to ask you guys to come with me...but the way I see it is I'm dead without her anyways." Michael clenched Elena a little tighter as he spoke, "I'm going to go bring the fight to the Kishins. Just get and get out as simple as that."

"WHAT?" shouted Melody as she stood up and approached Michael, "are you insane? That won't do you any good! I mean, attacking the Kishins is about as good of an idea as giving Xander the key to the girl's locker room!" Xander glared over at Melody. "I mean I'm all one for saving May! Me and her are great friends, but I mean...its a suicide mission especially if you don't have a weapon!"

"I agree with Melody," said Ash as he leaned backwards and thought about the situation, "but with that being said...I'm going to." Xander looked over at Ash in shock. "Come on, Xander. We're going to be war heroes...if we come back alive. Besides, I think I would do the same thing if I was in Michael's shoes and my partner was May and, hell, I guess if I wouldn't support myself when I'm about to do something crazy, nobody else would." Ash gave Michael a quick high-five.

"Well, looks like I'm going, too," said Xander with a smile as he moved over to Michael's side. "No way in hell I'm going to allow someone like Ash to become a war hero while I stand around looking like a coward." Ash nodded.

Melody sighed as she looked at her friends. Finally, Shi lit up and transformed into a human and joined Michael's side. "Heck yeah! I mean when this war started I wanted to go all commando on the Kishin's butts and sneak into their side and wipe them out without a second thought. I mean, come on! I want a gold medal for participating in this war!" Melody smiled and nodded along with Shi's rather outrageous statement. "Then its decided," began Shi, proudly acting like he was the team leader, "we are all-"

"STOP!" shouted Elena as her weapon transformed into a human, "are you guys crazy? I mean attacking the Kishins is one thing. But there is a rumor that someone of equal level as Lord Death is hanging out over there. What are you going to do when he attacks you? I mean, they probably have cannons and sirens to alert them to your every movement and then blow you up. There is no way you can survive all that. And there is no way I'm going with you just to witness you guys get killed...it'll just be too troublesome."

The gang looked over at Michael for an explanation. Michael scoffed at the idea. "Why would they do something like that? If they really do have someone of equal power as Lord Death why have cannons or sirens? Lord Death can't leave the city and everybody else in the city is weaker then him, so therefore this super powerful person can't be defeated outside of the city limits. Why would they waste money, time, and man-power to protect him? That means no cannons, sirens, or probably even walls will be around to stop us."

"Okay, cool, so you won't have to worry about sirens and cannons, but you'll still have to deal with that person, won't you?" asked Elena calmly, as she looked over at the rest of the group. They just shrugged.

"We'll deal with it when we deal with it," stated Ash as he stood up. "If those rumors are true, if he attacks us, if we can't escape, then we'll deal with it. If you ask me with all of those 'ifs' the odds are in our favor. Either way we still need to go off and rescue May, right?" The rest of the group nodded.

"What are you going to do?" muttered Elena, "what are you going to do? There's thousand of Kishins even if only a third of them find you, you'd still have to fight over three hundred of them. It doesn't make any sense...I mean, wouldn't it be better if you just leave it to the Death Scythes. I mean, if Lord Death only sends one of the three out there we'd still have a better chance of saving her."

"If we aren't too late," said Michael as he stood up. He motioned to the other ones, all of whom quickly stood up alongside him. "And I, for one, don't want to be any later than normal. Best case scenario we have all the time in the world. But over ninety-nine percent of those scenarios state that we don't. So, we'll be leaving now to go save our friend, if you don't mind." The group left behind him, leaving Elena alone in the gym.

"Are you okay?" asked Melody as she tried to keep pace with Michael who was walking as quickly as he could to the walls of the city. "This kind of attitude is common place with someone like Shi or Xander, but ordinarily you are little bit more cool-headed."

"I'm not someone who would turn my back on my partner," said Michael, "especially not May. I wouldn't have a partner if she didn't team up with me." Michael kept his gaze fixed straight ahead at the wall, "I didn't come here right away. I had...some loose ends to tie up at home, so I transferred in halfway through the semester. Since things like that aren't common, there were some complications. Mostly, most of the weapons were already taken...so, I didn't have a weapon for the longest time. I'm sure you heard about our late start in actually getting a mission, that's why. We were off to a late start due to the fact that we were late becoming partners."

(-A little under a year ago-)

"It'll take some time," said Lord Death in a kind and concerned voice to Michael, "you just arrived at school and most of the weapons and meisters are already partnered up. But don't worry eventually a spot will clear up. Sometimes a Meister will transfer out, deciding regular school is a better fit. Or there would be a rupture in a group and a Meister and weapon would stop working together and the two of them would have to get new partners."

"No problem," said Michael with a friendly bow of his head. He was still dressed in a more formal suit. It was his first time being face-to-face with Lord Death since he entered the school. He was a bit worried. He had already been in here for a couple of months and yet, he still didn't have a weapon. Most people would say it was due to his complete lack of training with most traditional weapons. He had no talent with close-ranged weapons, his only option was with guns it looked like and apparently there was a surprising shortage this year. Michael sighed as he left Lord Death's office.

* * *

><p>I wanted to do all of their meetings together in three back-to-back chapters. But I think for now it will just be Michael's and May's meeting. It looks like the group will be leading the assault on the Kishin base while the rest of the school remains oblivious to this attack. Five school children are aiming to take down an entire army.<p> 


	38. Chapter 37 Michael Meets May

**Michael Meets May!**

Michael was sitting alone in the class once more. The rest of the class was in pairs as they continued to study. His eyes moved from classmate to classmate trying to find a viable partner. His mind classified each kid as either a weapon or meister and from their whether or not they would be an acceptable weapon. Finally, there was the question of whether or not their personality would work out well with his. He couldn't find someone who he wanted to work with. It was hard to judge people just by their looks, but if you look at who they hang out with, combine that with their grades, along with your small interactions with them in the hall and their personality becomes pretty evident.

If you take the little weird guy, Shi, who was partnered with Melody as an example. You noticed who he constantly hung out with people like Melody, who complained about his rather annoying grabbing of their butts as well as his low marks, which seemed to have a max of twenty and Michael could tell that he definitely didn't want to be paired up with him.

Not to mention the insane amount of slackers in here. He looked back and noticed how half of the students in the room were asleep forcing their partners to do all the work. If they were to do that in battle, then Michael might as well not have a partner. He also noticed the guys and girls who had more then one partner. It would make sense for Michael to team up with one of those excess partners...but some of the girls only teamed up with a guy because of his looks rather then his skills. Same went for some of the guys, who picked a girl simply because of her looks. Michael would rather avoid that. A good-looking weapon is no replacement for just a good weapon.

The class continued without any more interference. The school had been pretty calm lately. The students had been taking missions and taking Kishins down without any real hitch. Even the classes became a bore. When the bell rang, all of the students got up and walked out. Michael shuffled out of there, he had only moved past a couple of classrooms when he realized he forgot his bag. He turned around and returned to the classroom.

He stopped just outside of it when he heard people inside. A girl and guy, he turned around and peeked in. He immediately noticed the partners. May and her partner, Luis. They were a surprising pair, they seemed to be very compatible as far as exams go, they always scored high, but whenever Michael bumped into them outside of class, they were never together. Luis was always with his own friends, the big boys on campus and the like, while May seemed to be either by herself or with fellow good-looking girls.

Despite their ability to work together and the fact that they seemed to get along during the exams, it sounded like they were fighting. Michael hung out in the hall and listened to their arguments. "You just can't handle it! I mean, seriously we are supposed to be one of the big and upcoming partners for this year. But we can't do the Soul Resonance, because of you!" shouted Luis as he paced about in the room "we've tried three times and you can't do a single thing! I mean, have you seen other people's Soul Resonance like that Ash kid's! A sharper blade, daggers made of blood, a lot of special effects as opposed to what you do! WHICH IS NOTHING!"

"Oh, really?" asked May with a contemptuous voice as she walked towards Luis, "I don't see you doing anything either. As far I'm concerned I'm the only one trying! Whenever we even try to do a Soul Resonance I feel your soul wavelength creep into me! Its like a slimy snake! Its repulsive!" May glared at Luis. He was definitely in a bad mood, he glared back with a frown.

Luis turned around and walked out of the classroom. "Just make sure you get it right the next time. I don't have the time nor the energy to keep covering up your mistakes." Luis left with a huff of breath. May sighed and quickly left after a few more seconds.

Michael snuck into the room after both of them left. If things had gotten any worse he would've interfered, but seeing fights between partners is pretty common stuff especially if they failed doing something like Soul Resonance. Partners always tended to blame each other, even though it appeared that Luis was taking it kind of far. Michael found his bag and quickly left for the gym.

The gym was often crowded with students. Many of them were practicing with their partners, getting prepared for any fights with a Kishin. However, today as empty, probably some big party was happening that got everybody's attention. That just meant that Michael got the whole place to himself. He went over to the normal weapon deposit and searched through it. Since he didn't know about what weapon he would use he was stuck training with all of them.

Michael was extremely talented when it came to long-ranged weapons. His father was a military man and was very skilled in guns and the like. He trained Michael in the same weapons since he was younger, so Michael had developed the skills to use guns, bows, even slingshots since he was young. He never had any training with with any close-ranged weaponry due to the fact that in the upcoming age of guns in the military, swords were considered obsolete.

Once more Michael returned to his practice with the bow. He pulled it back and quickly fired multiple shots without rest. They all hit their marks on the targets perfectly. His speed, technique, and accuracy were way above average, near perfection. And now he spent almost two hours a day practicing with long ranged weapons, those many hours quickly began accumulating and fine-tuning his skills. His aim was nearly automatic now. Michael prepared another shot.

"So, this is what a good archer looks like," said May as she walked in. Michael was stunned for a moment and let go of his bowstring, letting the shot fly. Even with his concentration gone for that one shot, it didn't miss the target. It wasn't as clean as the others one and it was off-center, but it hit the target nonetheless. "I suppose I should be impressed. Luis was the best archer at his old school and he definitely would've missed that shot."

Michael was stunned as he stared at May. Did she follow him here? No, he knew she left ahead of him, then why was she here? She was a weapon. Weapons really didn't need to practice to use other weapons. He remained quiet and just decided to ready another shot. He slid the arrow into the bow and took aim.

"Just going to ignore me?" asked May as she walked forward and watched Michael fire another shot. He really was much better then her stupid partner, Luis. He had been making shot after shot. "I was just wondering why you didn't come in and say hi when me and Luis were in the classroom." Michael wasn't prepared for that and the next shot missed despite his talents. "I saw you slip away and I was wondering what was up...I'm surprised you are this good though. Is your partner a bow?"

"No," said Michael as he dropped the bow back off and walked over to the targets. "I don't have a partner. I transferred in too late." He began to pull the arrows out of the targets, "So why did you follow me down here? Was it just to ask me why I didn't decide to make myself known during a fight?"

May ignored the last comment. "So you never used a Weapon?" she asked. Michael shook his head, "would you like to try?" May transformed into a bow and landed in Michael's hand. Ordinarily, he would've turned it down right then and there, but it was his first time in awhile holding a weapon. The rumors about it amplifying your Soul Wavelength was true. It really did feel completely different. It was like a rush of adrenaline. He brought the bow up and into the air and fired a shot. The arrow he fired was on a different level. The speed and power of the arrow was way past that of the ordinary arrows he usually fired. The arrow hit and pierced straight through the target.

"Wow," said Michael as he weighed the weapon on his hand, despite the power the weapon wielded it was light. Most weapons weren't anything like that. Usually with weapons the more power a weapon had, the bigger and heavier it was. The opposite was true for this weapon. Not only was it much stronger then the previous bow, it was also light.

"Well, as soon as my back is turned!" shouted Luis as he walked into the training room. He knew May's weapon form, hours of looking at the back of it throughout the sessions, he knew it from a simple glance! "Seriously, bro?" Luis came over and pushed Michael down onto the ground. He snatched May from him.

May returned back to her human form, "excuse me, what the heck do you think you are doing?" May shouted at Luis. Luis shrugged at her and returned his attention to Michael.

"I'm the best freaking archer in the school, remember that?" shouted Luis as he glared down at Michael. "And that girl right there only wants the best! You got that! Why? Because if you want to be the best, you have to be WITH the best! Right May?" Luis wrapped his arm around May.

"Right," said May as she pushed Luis' arm off of her, "which is why I'm switching partners. From now on, I'm going to be his partner."

(-Back with Michael and Melody-)

"The rest of the story isn't important," said Michael. "It was only up from there with me and her. We started to work hard and accomplish things. We only recently began doing missions due to our extremely late start, even our Soul Resonance is a work-in-progress. But we became pretty close friends due to those events."

"Is that really how you are going to end your story?" asked Ash as he caught up to the other two meisters. "Its not bad, but I highly doubt Luis would just allow you to take off with his partner." Melody nodded.

"Especially if his partner is as hot as May!" shouted Xander, his reflection on Ash's gauntlet had a smile on his face. The group gave Xander a leer, except for Shi who gave him a thumbs-up. "Hey, we were all thinking it. Right, Melody?" Melody turned her head away with huff.

"Luis did cause a little bit of a problem, but then we decided to have a short archery match," said Michael as the three of them continued to traipse through the city. "I won and he couldn't argue with the results...or Lord Death's interference." The three of them arrived at the wall within a few more minutes.

They looked out over the horizon, each of them scanning for something that stood out. All of their eyes rested on the same object. A few miles out, there was a small brown base. It was hard to see it due to its matching surroundings, but there was a slight difference in its tint. It was slightly darker then its surroundings. The three of them shared a smile and then turned around to talk about a battle plan.

* * *

><p>Writer's block is terrible. This chapter took me awhile to mill through and finish it up...anyways, the attack shall begin next to.<p> 


	39. Chapter 38 A Way In!

**A Way In!**

Strategy is a key point in all battles. However, putting together a good strategy when you are outnumbered 1000 to 1 is probably one of the most difficult things a human can do. It becomes even more difficult when you are marching into enemy territory. Michael, May, and Ash knew all about this even as they charged towards the Kishin's base. They didn't have a numbers advantage, they didn't have a territory advantage...the only advantage they possessed was the element of surprise and that wasn't going to last with them throughout the entire mission.

Ash took the front. He was the better close-ranged fighter with Xander's sharp blade. Melody followed closely behind, she was ready to strike out the instant either one of them saw a Kishin. With Shi's range even if the attack came from behind, Melody could easily send Shi flying out behind him and smashing into the attacker. Michael brought up the back, following the two of them closely. Without a weapon he needed to stay out of the way. When he did finally get May back they would be using a similar formation to escape, with the long range of the bow that was the best.

The sky was still dark due to the time. It was still early in the day. Hopefully the darkness of the sky would only help them blend in at this time. They hoped that at the very least. Small pathetic tricks like that would be their best...if not only option to get in and out of the Kishin's base alive.

Their mission was to simply rescue May everything else was just going to slow them down, get them in trouble, and make it harder. If they attacked any Kishins they would surely get into trouble. Attacking a Kishin would cause an uproar in the base if a body was found or if a Kishin didn't check in at a scheduled time. They would just have to get in and get out causing the least amount of a commotion possible.

They weren't worried about any higher ranking Kishins attacking them. Surely having to send the number one strongest Kishin out after a group of school kids would surely be a mockery that the Kishins wouldn't want. They would be sending smaller Kishins at them, Kishins they could beat. They would just have to beat those and keep on going, keep on trying to escape with May. That's what they were focusing on.

The first Kishin came into sight. Ash skidded to a halt and quickly dropped to the ground, Melody and Michael followed his example. Ash pointed the Kishin out. He was a larger Kishin then they were expecting, he had a huge belly and a hairy chest. He paced about the outside of the Kishin base's door, his head was focused strictly ahead of him as he moved about. His head never swerved or checked the sides, just what was right in front of him. Then he would suddenly turn around and walk in the other direction. He was moving very monotonously, like a machine. He had a simple program just pace around the door and keep people from entering. He never deviated from the simple program, he just kept pacing.

Taking him out would've been a two second job. However, they couldn't risk being discovered already. If they took him out then the Kishins would immediately notice that one of them was missing. Ash bent over and picked up a rock. He chucked it to the side. The Kishin's head pivoted to the side following the rock, he was about to run off after it, but shook his head. "Patrol this door and only this door," he said as he continued to move back and forth in front of the door. Ash cursed quietly. Vigrid led a tight ship. The Kishins were just supposed to simply follow their orders, nothing else.

"Let's just look for another way in, okay?" proposed Melody, both Ash and Michael agreed. Shi and Xander disagreed, but were outvoted so they kept quiet. They started to hike around the base. Whatever side they went to they spotted a Kishin patrolling. Every door, window, and air vent had a Kishin walking in front of it.

They sighed as they came back to where they started. They were all breathing heavily by now after the long run from their school to this base and then a complete run around the base. They were already starting to tire they couldn't keep this up to keep checking on each entrance every hour to see if there was an opening. Their plan was to be in and out, but it was starting to seem like just getting in was impossible.

"We could always try to distract them. Have one of us lure the guard away while the other two go in by themselves," offered Ash trying offer an new piece of strategy into the mix of the three of them.

"No," said Michael, "we don't even know if they would chase after us even if we did do that. For all we know they may just sound the alarm right then and there and then we'd have an entire base of Kishins looking out for us. We need slip past him and get the door open without alerting him." They shared another look up at the Kishin who was simply turning around and walking back and forth nothing more then his patrol on his mind.

"Maybe there's some way in from the top," stated Melody as she looked up towards the top of the base and at a billow of smoke that was coming out from it. Ash cringed at the thought of getting covered in soot. It was an interesting thought, if they could get to it there probably would be a way to use it to their advantage. Question is whether or not they could get to it.

They quickly began to run back around the base to find an opening to use to get to the roof. Ash ran slightly more sluggishly then the rest of them, he was in no mood to get up there and get covered in soot. Finally, they caught a break as they saw a small place with no guard. Michael ran up to their first, he formed a small platform with his hands. Next was Melody, who used the platform to jump up on top of the roof. A quick check proved what they thought, nobody was around. Ash was the next one to go up and to the top of the rook. Melody dropped Shi's yo-yo form down. Michael grabbed onto it. Ash and Melody then tugged and lifted the two of them up to the roof. They quickly headed over to the chimney and checked it. Melody put her hand out into the smoke and immediately recoiled.

"No wonder they aren't trying to guard it," said Melody as she waved her hand around in the air trying to get to cool down, "there's a fire going on down there. No human could possibly go down there without first getting burnt to a crisp...any bright ideas on how to get in now?"

"I can't feel anything, remember?" stated Michael as he walked over to the chimney and stuck his entire arm down there. "And if I remember correctly, weapons wouldn't be able to feel anything either right?" He looked over at Shi. The dropped Shi's yo-yo down into the chimney and lowered him to the bottom. Shi looked around the chimney's base inspecting the bottom to see if any Kishins were around. None were. When Melody brought him back up, Michael went to work. Michael braced himself against the walls and slowly lowered himself down. Michael got down to the bottom and quickly stomped the fire out. Michael came out and waited for the smoke to clear out of the chimney and allow Melody and Ash to come down. Melody came down first, followed by Ash. Ash landed right into the soot covering himself in the thick black gunk. He was about to shout in fear, when Michael quickly leapt at him, knocking him down and covered his mouth with his hand.

They wasted a couple of minutes waiting for Ash to calm down and for Melody to clean him while Michael held him down and held his mouth shut. Finally when Ash was clean enough, Michael stepped back and took in the surrounding. They were in the kitchen. Ash busied himself with simply re-cleaning his body while Melody restored the fire. They didn't want any of the Kishins on the outside to notice that the fire suddenly went out and report it. Michael searched through the kitchen, collecting small knives and a frying pan for emergency situations, they were certainly better then a lamp.

The problem would be getting out of the kitchen now. Melody braced her ear against the door and tried to hear anything that could be going on out in the hall. She didn't hear anything. That didn't mean that no one was out in the hall. Even worse, the reality was just starting to set into their heads. They were trapped. If someone was coming they would be forced to take them down, the only way out was the garbage chute, the chimney, and the door. The door led to the hall, so if a Kishin was out there they would be screwed. There was no way they would be able to climb out of the chimney. The chute was their last bet and they could almost guarantee there would be a Kishin stuck with garbage duty.

"Well, we did infiltrate the base," said Michael as he leaned back against a wall and tried to think of their next move. "We should've guessed that moving ahead from here would be more troublesome. Now we are surrounded by them and we can't allow them to see us."

"Let's just take a break and try to regain our bearings," suggested Ash as he kept an open eye on the door. "It'll be awhile till the Kishins decided to come in and start preparing a meal. So, let's just rest and eat up. We can think a lot better once we are running at full again."

It would be a lie if either Michael or Melody said that they weren't hungry or tired. They decided that taking a little while to regain their energy wouldn't be the worst move they could make right now. They all lied back and began to rest. Each one of them had at least one eye on the door at all times though.

(-With Vigrid-)

He was sitting down in front of a large table with a map of Death City and its surrounding on it. He was continuously checking the recent reports from each Kishin. He was thinking about every single possible move that Lord Death could make and he was beating it. He had a wicked smile as he topped every move. He knew Lord Death just as well he knew himself. He had already witnessed every possible tactic or strategy that Lord Death could use and created a countermeasure. It should be his victory in a matter of days.

"LORD VIGRID! LORD VIGRID!" shouted a small stature Kishin as he rushed into the room. Vigrid didn't even bother to move, whatever the news was he had already created a battle plan for it. Nonetheless it could lead to a certain number of variations that needed to be taken into account. Vigrid waved his hand allowing the Kishin to continue, "I just received word that two of the Kishins we sent into the academy were defeated!" Vigrid shrugged, a couple of small fry sacrifices were expected. "We also have reasons to believe that we were infiltrated."

Vigrid curled his eyebrow at the thought. Lord Death only had two Death Scythes...one would have to stay back and at Lord Death's side at all times. Meaning that one of them had to come charging in here if they were trying to take Vigrid down. If that was true then that means Death City had only one Death Scythe and Lord Death in it...if Vigrid stayed back and handled the intruders by himself which shouldn't have been problem that means that the rest of the Kishins could swarm Death City, Lord Death wouldn't tire himself out by swatting a million flies when Vigrid could come crashing in and cause a victory. So it would be a couple hundred students versus a couple thousand Kishins. The odds were clearly in his favor. That was good news, right? No, there was no way Lord Death would do something so stupid. Vigrid bent over and looked at the map of Death City. This wasn't in his calculations.

* * *

><p>Vigrid is starting to worry. But the group is in an incredibly tight spot.<p> 


	40. Chapter 39 The Announcement

**The Announcement**

Vigrid stared down at the board as he continued to think it through. The more and more he thought about, the more and more he was convinced that this wasn't Lord Death who was acting. A third party or another brain acting in Lord Death's spot, probably without Lord Death's permission as well. He continued to calculate all of the information he had obtained throughout his many, many years in action. This was more likely a rescue mission, then an assault.

An assault would've resulted in many serious injuries and probably several dead Kishins by now, not a single one had been reported. Who would launch an assault and not take down as many Kishins as possible? Unless it was an attempt on his head and there aim was to take him down, but nobody would be that suicidal as the only person who could stand up to him would be Lord Death himself and he was restrained to the city.

Vigrid backed away from the table and finished his calculations. They were only minor adjustments that were necessary, but it would be smarter to act like this and be more careful then less. It would take a few moments for him to completely box them in. The lone student they captured should be easy bait to the trap. Setting up the trap would only take a few more minutes. The biggest problem would be hiding the trap. He would have to double check everything, if they noticed a lack of Kishin forces stationed around the base, then they could retreat. He didn't want that. One lone girl was a poor bargaining chip. If he could get two or three, possibly four or five then he may be able to bargain a better position off of Lord Death, especially if one of those was a Death Scythe.

He murmured quietly as he began to think things over. He nodded as he thought it through. It would be best to set a trap for the invaders. The best thing to do would be to let the other Kishins be oblivious to the invasion and for him to set up the trap in the prison. They would be heading there anyways to free their partner, so it only made sense. He smiled and headed in that direction to start up the preparations.

The incredibly tall Kishin smirked as he noticed Vigrid leave the room. He honored Vigrid's advice and war tactics, but he was starting to see through Vigrid's persona little-by-little. It wasn't easy, seeing as how Vigrid kept to himself and never ever let anyone else stray from their duty, including himself. However, Vigrid was starting to show his true colors. The Kishin would suggest going off and killing the three, they were mere flies that wandered into a spider's nest. Only difference was that this spider's next had thousands of spiders wandering around, the order to kill them would be finished in mere moments. If Vigrid wouldn't look out for his troops, then he would. He would give them the order to kill on sight.

(-With Melody and the rest of the crew-)

Melody leaned back against the door, breathing heavily as she couldn't calm her nerves from being in the Kishin base just sitting around waiting. Waiting for what? Nothing. They couldn't move. They were pinned in and stuck in this stupid base with absolutely nothing left to do. They were stuck. Even worse she seemed to be the only one who was stuck in this high strung state. Xander and Shi both seemed to have calmed down and were oblivious to the seriousness that they were in. Ash had calmed down ever since he had cleared his skin of the heavy black soot.

Michael had either calmed down or was hiding his anxiety well. He was drawing circles around on the ground. Every so often he would shake his head or something. But Melody had no idea why. She couldn't hear whatever it was that he was murmuring to himself. "I think its about time to move, right?" asked Melody as she looked at the rest of them.

"YEAH!" shouted Shi jumping up from his spot, "we get to go kill some ugly bastards, now! Time to par..." Ash and Xander simultaneous spun around and punched Shi in the gut and head by themselves to knock him back and more importantly shut him up. They both brought their fingers over their mouths to signal Shi to be quiet instead of to keep talking, especially as loudly as he was.

It took them a couple of seconds, but Michael nodded in agreement. Ash looked back and slowly nodded as well. He grabbed onto Xander, who turned into a gauntlet. Melody did the same thing with Shi. The three people got up and moved over towards the door. This time Ash shifted down and crouched low. He slid Xander's blade underneath the door and had Xander check the hallway for a few seconds. Then Ash pulled Xander back in. Xander gave them the all-clear signal.

Melody pressed up against the door and slowly opened. She examined the outside. Nobody was around. She stepped out with Ash and Michael in tow. They looked around just to double-check the situation. Nothing. Melody breathed heavily as both Ash and Michael moved out. They needed to make this mission go faster. They needed to find the prison, break out May, and then get themselves out. It was certainly a fun thing to try...fun and dangerous.

They moved down the hallway to try and peer around the corner and examine what was around it. Once more they used Xander's slender form, by simply extending him around the corner they could see down the hall. Another empty hallway. Ash pulled Xander back close to his side. This was either the best thing that could possibly happen or the worst. No Kishins around meant either they lucked out and they focused on strengthening the outside of the base or they were strengthening another place within the base.

Melody was about to go and step out into the hall when Ash grabbed onto her shoulder and pulled her back. He did so with a little bit too much force and caused her to stumble backwards. She looked over at her fellow infiltrator with a frown. She didn't know why he did that, but he was definitely upset with him for doing it that forcefully.

"I'm sorry...its just that...you have a speck of dirt on your pants..." groaned Ash as he looked at her. Melody looked surprised for a second, in this intense situation she had almost forgotten about his peculiar condition. Michael shrugged and decided to ignore them and focus on what was around the corner. "I couldn't concentrate looking at it. I need to clean it up." Melody twisted around and noticed that he was right there was just a speck of dirt on the backside of her pants.

"I understand how Ash noticed it," said Shi with a coy smile, "after all, its the only place I ever look, too." Ash shook his head furiously trying to defend himself. He was trying to make sure he didn't seem like a pervert, but he couldn't think of any smart things to say. "Told you," said Shi, "all guys are looking down there, right, Michael?" Michael brought his foot up and stepped on Shi's yo-yo form. Once more it was to shut him up, rather then for revenge. Another Kishin was walking down the hallways, possibly to the kitchen. They debated about dashing back and into the kitchen to hide, but decided against. They needed a tour guide to the prison after all and the kishin just volunteered. They decided to take him down.

Ash moved out first. He was too eager to end this conversation with Melody. He didn't pause as he rushed out. The Kishin moved to open his mouth, but Shi came swinging around and into the back of his head forcing him forward and towards Ash. Ash struck out with his blade digging the sharp metal into his chest. Ash felt the resistance of chain mail once more as he tried to push the blade into the Kishin. The Kishin thudded to the ground. Melody moved forward and wrapped Shi's string around her neck. It was a nice hostage situation now.

The three of them quickly dragged the Kishin into the nearest broom closet. "Okay, now listen to us. We are here not to kill you, but to get our friend out of the jail cell. So, you will listen to us now as we are going to go in there and break her out, got it? Now just tell us how to get to the jail and we will let you..." Michael was saying, before a loud voice echoed throughout the large halls.

"Dear my precious soldiers," said the voice. "Vigrid is busy, so I am telling you the situation. We have reason to believe we are currently being invaded by some people from the Death Weapon and Meister Academy. So, for the time being everybody is on high alert. You guys are advised to shoot and kill on sight. Have fun."

"Shit," cursed Ash as he moved back and once more pressed the door open and peered outside it. Luckily he didn't see anybody. He moved back into closet and looked around. Melody and Michael both looked worried as the mission apparently got hundreds of times harder. They definitely won't escape from this building easily now.

"Well," said Michael as he stood back up and returned his attention to the Kishin, "its not like our mission is going to change, right? We are still doing our job here. We are still saving May, right? We aren't going to run away. It just seems like someone upped the difficulty level." May and Ash nodded. They weren't leaving without May. Michael turned back around to the Kishin.

"Listen, we need to get to the prison cells now," he commanded as he loosened the strings around the Kishin's neck allowing him to get another breath of air and talk freely. The Kishin gasped heavily before smiling.

"You expect me to tell you?" he laughed, "You guys are screwed! This is exactly what's going to happen to Death City, you know? You think you'll take us down! You've been taking us down for years! This is payback! This is perfect payback! We are going to win!" Ash brought Xander around and into the kishin's face, shutting him up for awhile.

"I think you missed something," said Michael as he breathed calmly. "Before that message we had to kill you in order to cover our tracks, but now we don't have to. This time our tracks are exposed and as a result we can let you live. If we weren't known, you were screwed. But now I can promise you if you tell us what you want you can live. We no longer have any reason to kill you." Michael smiled at the Kishin. Kishins weren't exactly stalwart generals. Self-sacrificing wasn't one of their strong suits. If they saw a way to save their asses, but it would screw twenty other people over. They'd take it in a heart beat. It was kind of what made them Kishins.

Th Kishin paused for a second. He was seriously weighing his options. He may just be screwed no matter what happened here on out. "Okay..." he sighed with a tone of resignation. "Its in the middle of the base. They designed it to protect it...we knew the one reason you'd guys attack would be to save someone, so we tried our best to protect ourselves from that. So, we put it in the middle of the base. Luckily, for you its only a couple of turns away from here." The Kishin slowly began to explain the layout of the base. Michael nodded throughout it all, committing it to memory bit by bit.

When the Kishin was done talking, Michael and the rest got up. Ash stopped in the doorway and turned around. "We may not have a reason to kill you, but its still our job."

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><p>Sorry, for the incredibly long time. I've been dealing with an incredibly tough case of writer's block for this story, I can't think of how to continue it. Honestly, I'm still not happy with it...but its been pointed out to me how long it has been since I updated it...so here it is...expect the next update to be...eh, probably a while as well, darn writer's block!<p> 


	41. Chapter 40 Melody's Gone

**Melody's Gone**

With the new information about where to head to obtained from the poor Kishin, the group headed out. Not wasting a second to get to their location. They quickly moved out desperate to find their friend who was being held in the prison. The Kishins that managed to find them stood little chance of surviving. When the Kishin struck out, Melody and Ash's combined attacks rendered whatever armor they were wearing virtually useless. They struck them down with wicked speed and power. The chain mail buckled and snapped from the force.

They kept their eyes out for any way out at all. They were going to need to make a quick break for it, the instance they rescued May they needed to flee and break free without wasting a moment. The prison was growing closer with every step they took. They took turn after turn without ever slowing down and taking a breather, all those days in the school they trained their absolute hardest in order to ensure that if a situation like this ever happened they would be able to do exactly that. They moved out quickly acting, almost as if they were one person.

"We are almost there," said Michael as he pressed himself against wall. Ash was in front of him already checking the corridor for opponents. Michael turned around and looked behind him to check on Melody's state. He was shocked to notice that she was missing. "Ash! Melo-" Ash cut him off as he brought his hand up to his mouth.

"Shh," said Ash without turning around and keeping his attention ahead of him. A Kishin was walking down the corridor; luckily he was walking away from both them and their goal. He just didn't want to attract the Kishin's attention with any noise. Bad news, he heard something that gave him pause. The Kishin froze in the pathway and turned around. He scratched his head as he thought about the noise. He held still for a couple more seconds checking the hallway for the noise. He took a step towards them. Ash gritted his teeth as he prepared to launch a quick strike with Xander. He looked back to give Melody her orders, he nearly jumped back when he noticed she was missing.

"Crap," muttered Ash as he relaxed against the wall and double-checked on the upcoming Kishin. It was one-on-one now. He wasn't worried about winning, he would definitely win against this ugly Kishin, but the question would be whether or not he would get away with as few injuries as physically possible. He prepared for a surprise attack, he crouched down. He held his hand out with Xander just barely poking out around the corner. When the Kishin got close enough that would be Ash's signal. That's when he would strike. For the time being Ash just had to push the thought of Melody out of his head. Their armed forces were already basically halved with May missing, but now he was all alone guarding Michael. Talk about pressure.

"NOW!" shouted Xander. Ash reacted instantaneously. He jumped up into the air. He spun around in middle air launching a jab with his fist with all of his weight behind. With the jump he was put right around head level with the Kishin. He struck out landing the blade directly into the Kishin's eyes. The Kishin backed up with a cruel and inhuman guttural growl. He stumbled back and couldn't keep his feet planted. As soon as Ash landed he didn't stop with the attacks. A quick swipe with his blade across the Kishin's stomach. It ripped through the chain mail. Ash withdrew his arm and then fired a quick jab into the Kishin's stomach, right where he ripped into the chain mail, except this time he pushed in as deep as he could into the Kishin's body. The Kishin didn't even get to growl as he hit the ground. He went up in smoke leaving behind a Kishin Egg.

After collecting the Kishin Egg, Ash backed up and looked at Michael. "Okay, so how long ago do you think we lost her?" asked Ash as he moved back to the corner and peered down it. He was trying his absolute best to make sure there wasn't any other Kishins were waiting to ambush them. He kept looking over his shoulder and at Michael. Ordinarily Ash would examine around the corner while Melody protected Michael, since Michael didn't have a weapon someone had to protect him while the other person checked the hall. However, it was up to Ash to perform both jobs.

"I don't think it was that long ago," stated Michael as he walked over to a nearby door and peered into the window looking for anything that could give them a hint of which way Melody went. He crouched down and looked at the floor. He was hoping to find scuffs and marks that Melody may have made to give them a hint. Nothing.

They were stuck. They could either keep going forward and rescue May or they could turn around and try to rescue Melody. Either way they were putting the lives of their friends on the line. But sitting around here thinking about it was the ultimate wrong choice! They didn't have any time to waste and that's what they were doing, just wasting time. The more time that pressed on the higher the chance of someone dying. May was already imprisoned so if anyone would be sentenced to death it would be her, but Kishins really didn't sentence people to death, they just killed.

"Now is not the time!" shouted Michael as he pulled himself out of his head. Ash came to at the same time. Michael was already rushing down the path where Melody disappeared. Ash was taken for surprise. He thought that if it came down to it, Michael would rush to May. But instead he immediately chose Melody. Ash didn't fully understand why.

"Why are we going after Melody?" asked Ash as he ran alongside Michael. He didn't mean to. He didn't quite mean to. He accidentally asked it. Now Michael might second-guess himself and stop, they couldn't afford that right now!

Michael didn't stop or even slow down. He continued to run as fast as he could, still examining the floor for some sort of sign that Melody left them to show them the way she was taken. He still couldn't find anything. He must be missing something. "They know we are coming attack and get back May," explained Michael, finally answering Ash's question. "Chances are they are already putting up counter-measures to protect her. If we are going to blast past those defenses, we need as much manpower as we can muster. So, we need Melody to do that."

Ash bit his lip as he considered it. They are going to need more physical force in order to win. It was sort of ironic that the MANpower they needed was going to be coming from a girl, a teenage girl at that, but it was true. They continued to rush through the halls trying to find some sort of hint on the floor or even on the walls. It looked like she just disappeared into thin air.

(-With Melody-)

"Ze har har har!" laughed a Kishin as he crawled about. Melody was strapped to his back with a thick and heavy cord. The Kishin moved about with surprising ease despite the fact that he had Melody strapped to his back. Melody was struggling and squirming. She needed to free at least one hand to get Shi free and strike out, but Shi was currently blocked in with the cord.

There was no way Michael or Ash could find her. The Kishin had made sure of that, even if they were in the same room they wouldn't spot her. The Kishin was walking on ceiling! Melody wasn't sure how he was doing it, but with her strapped to his back he was using both his hands and feet to crawl along the ceiling. Michael and Ash had such faith that Melody would manage to leave them a note they would be focusing on the floor or walls, something she would have easy access to not something like the ceiling that there was nowhere in hell she could reach!

"We now got three prisoners!" cheered the Kishin as he continued moving along the ceiling. "And since I got one of them, I'm almost certain to get a promotion!"

Melody was starting to panic. She had been struggling all this time and nothing was coming to show for it. Despite all of the time she had wasted, the cord was just as tight as when they stared. She had to think of way to free Shi and get him out of the cords. Once ze got out they could launch an attack on the Kishin and free themselves that way. SHI! Maybe Shi was the answer.

Melody tugged on Shi trying to drag him up higher, not out of the tight cord cocoon just higher up in it. Finally, she felt Shi move. She shivered at the thought of dragging Shi around and against her body, especially considering her plan to get them out. It was definitely not something she wanted to do often, but the situation called for. "Shi!" commanded Melody through a muffled voice. "Trusfurm*!"

Shi waited for a few seconds. He couldn't quite make out what she said, but it sounded like transform or something similar. But to transform in this situation seemed stupid! They were bound and tied to each other very tightly even in Shi's form he could still tell that. If he expanded right now the binding would only tighten up on them even more. Melody left out another muffled shout. Shi gritted his teeth; he really didn't like this idea, but resigned himself to it anyways. His body slowly began to expand in the tight confine of the cord.

"Hey!" shouted the Kishin as he felt a very sharp and hard tug on his cord. "What do you think you are doing back there?" The tugging became harder and more constant. He felt the cord slip out of his hand and give his prisoners even more room within the cord cocoon. He wasn't aware of what was going on. He may be able to walk on the ceiling but he didn't have eyes on the back of his head.

"Trusfurm!" commanded Melody once more. Shi felt a drop of relief as he returned to his weapon form, finally feeling the stress of the cord come off of his body. Melody didn't waste a moment; the space that Shi's body had created when he returned to his human form was still there. When he shrunk down to his weapon form the space became excess and enough room for Melody to maneuver. Melody flicked her wrist out and sent Shi flying free from the cord. With another flick of the wrist, Melody managed to send Shi flying upwards and at the Kishin.

The Kishin's eyes widened as he saw the yo-yo flying upwards at him. The yo-yo sprouted its signature sharp blades as it continued the arc at his face. The blades burrowed themselves into the Kishin's face. He let the cord loose as his hands scurried to his face to remove the yo-yo. He pried it loose with his power and tossed it to the side. "What just happened?" he asked he quickly grabbed onto the cord again. He was breathing heavily now due to the wound.

While he was still recovering from that attack another attack came flying at him. This time the blades swung into the Kishin's side, drawing blood. The Kishin let out a scream. The force from the attack screwed up his grip on the ceiling. He felt his feet slip and he fell from the ceiling. He smashed into the floor.

"Y-you jerk!" shouted the Kishin as he strained himself to stand up again. His legs starting to strain already. "You were my quick ticket to a promotion from Vigrid, but now...NOW YOU ARE MY DINNER!" The Kishin roared, opening his mouth revealing his sharp fangs.

* * *

><p>*Trusfurm was indeed Melody saying transform, except she couldn't talk well at the time.<p>

I personally like to think of the Kishin as a big spider if that helps anyone envision him. I'm going to try to update at a pretty decent speed like before despite having writer's block.


	42. Chapter 41 Rope Cage

**The Rope Cage**

The Kishin was now injured and walking about on the ground. He was stumbling about. He had two simultaneous injuries that had completely screwed with his balance. The strike to his head and side made it hard for him to keep standing in one place. He let his cord loose as he prepared to strike. He flipped it around and into the air, he wasn't expecting as much resistant from her since he had her wrapped up tightly in the cord. Oh, well, if that hadn't beaten her fighting spirit out of her, then he would just have to take it up another notch.

He sent whip flying out with extreme speed. It sped off towards Melody. Melody dove to the side avoiding the whip just barely. The whip was large, thick, and incredibly dense, but despite all of this its speed and flexibility was still on a whole other level from most weapons Melody faced. The Kishin sent the whip back up around and into the air, he spiraled it around in a circle. It came crashing back down to the ground with an incredibly loud snap. Melody moved backwards and cowered for a brief second as she heard the whip smash into the ground, coughing up small pebbles and stones.

Melody lashed out with her yo-yo. Sending it spinning across the floor with the blades, fully extended. The yo-yo dashed around the Kishin's legs, threatening to bury themselves into it. He jumped into the air and using the same mysterious power as before, his feet clung to the wall holding himself out of the yo-yo's current range.

"Ze har har har!" laughed the Kishin as he looked downwards at Melody from his spot on the wall, "I'll give you one last chance to tie yourself up and come along with me!" Melody didn't look worried as she brought her arm up, sending Shi upwards along the wall and at the Kishin. The blades juttng outside of Shi made for excellent grappling device and allowed Shi to scale the wall with ease. The Kishin leapt off and up onto the ceiling. "No matter how hard you try," shouted the Kishin, "having a yo-yo run along the ceiling is just impossible!"

"Just you wait," defied Shi as the reflection in the yo-yo showed Shi waving fists around angrily at the Kishin, "I'm going to scale that ceiling and strike you down an infinite number of times! Also, for your information if anyone is going to tie Melody up its going to be me!" Melody quickly dropped the yo-yo to the ground and brought her foot down on top of it.

"I don't want to be tied up by either of you!" yelled Melody. "Actually, in all reality I'd rather be tied up by the Kishin then by you!" The Kishin leaped forward with his cords happy to oblige. Melody brought Shi back up into the air, smashing the blunt yo-yo with the Kishin's chin. While the yo-yo without its blades had no real power or force in it, it was still enough to cause the Kishin to back up and return to his position on the ceiling and away from them.

"Ze har har har!" laughed the Kishin as he remained on the ceiling, "that wasn't me running away cause I got hit! That was me perfectly dodging that last blow and taking my distance!" Melody shook her head. She knew she hit him, but it didn't quite matter right now. She had to focus on taking him out as quickly as possible.

The Kishin remained on the ceiling, but he dropped the cord and began swinging it slowly from side-to-side. Melody stepped back and tried to watch the rope as it swung from one side to the other, expecting the Kishin to suddenly have it lash out at her. The Kishin began to swing it faster and faster. Melody tried to keep her eyes on it, but it was becoming more and more difficult. Finally the Kishin abandoned the side-to-side approach and was swinging the large cord around in a circle, completely trapping Melody in the center of the circle.

Melody was feverishly trying to keep an eye on the cord as it slowly began to disappear into a blurry cage around her. Whichever side she looked to the cord was there blocking off any chance of escape. It was hard for Melody to think in this situation an enemy attack could come from any direction and she could barely make out what was on the other side of the cord, unlike it mattered, she probably couldn't get to it anyways.

The Kishin smirked, "And now it is time to start with the attack!" the Kishin tugged on the cord sending it flying through the center of the circle. Melody was caught off guard as the heavy rope smacked into her. The cord was definitely a dangerous weapon. It felt like getting hit with a hammer in the side. Melody tenderly touched the area, only to find out it was incredibly sore due to the attack.

The weapon was still spinning around her keeping her trapped in the cage. Not only that, but Melody could swear that the more it spun the faster it became. The faster it became the more damage the Kishin could deliver by having it cross into the center of the circle and swing at Melody. On top of that from the Kishin's vantage on the ceiling, he could see every step that Melody took and redirect his rope in that direction with frightening accuracy.

However, if the strategy had one flaw it was the fact that the Kishin could not move. He was stuck staying above her, even the slightest move on his part would screw up his cage and cause it to move away from Melody and help Melody free herself. So, in other words the flaw to the Kishin's strategy was the key piece in Melody's. She sent Shi flying up at the cord's handle.

"Ze har har har!" laughed the Kishin, "a small attack like that is easily repelled especially when it is within my rope cage!" With a flick of the wrist, once more the cord came crashing through batting the yo-yo to the side. Along with batting the yo-yo to the side the rest of the rope continued on with its swing and slammed into Melody, knocking her down. Melody scrambled back to her feet just in time to watch the rope rotate around in the circle again.

There was no chance they'd be able beat them while holding back. They'd need to take it up another notch to beat him. "Shi!" shouted Melody. Shi's reflection nodded in agreement. "SOUL RESONANCE!" Fire exploded from Melody's hand and crept down the yo-yo string lighting the yo-yo in a brilliant blaze. The flames along with the blade made Melody's yo-yo no joke.

Melody whipped the yo-yo up into the air once more trying to break through the rope once more. The Kishin laughed loudly, "you can try and try, but you'll never break through my rope technique." With another flick of the rope, he sent flying through smashing into the yo-yo and knocking it aside. The rope once more came swinging at Melody. Melody dove to the side intending to avoid the swinging rope, but she couldn't completely. The rope came by smashing into her ankle. Melody let out a squeal due to the pain as she smashed into the ground.

The rope was definitely tougher then it looked. It felt like a rock smashed into her ankle. She struggled to her feet. It stung terribly. It was probably sprained from the sheer force of the rope. Melody looked back up at the Kishin, who currently had a twisted smile on his face, but why wouldn't he? He had been winning this fight every step of the way and now he injured Melody's foot and made it hard for her to do anything, especially running away.

Melody looked back at the swinging rope. If she wasn't just imagining it then it was definitely going slower. With how many times it collided with her yo-yo and her it made sense, but the Kishin already showed off its skill at increasing its speed. It would only take a couple more minutes for the rope to speed back up. Maybe if she slowed it down she would stand a chance at getting the yo-yo through the top. She looked up at the Kishin once more and watched his circular motions with the rope. She was trying to measure the speed of the rope and see her chances, but the more she watched the more she doubted the fact that she could break through it. Even if it was slowed down it wasn't enough for her to break through, her only option was to stop it completely.

One idea jumped to Melody's head, but that seemed unlikely to work. She looked back up and into the air at the rope swinging. She had no better ideas, she just had to cross her fingers and hope. She tossed Shi back up at the Kishin. Once more he smirked as he yelled at her for her futile efforts. He swung the large rope back over at the yo-yo. Melody grunted and pulled on the yo-yo at the same time. She adjusted the trajectory of the yo-yo around, rather then flying upwards at the Kishin it came around and collided with the rope. The force behind the yo-yo wasn't enough and couldn't deflect the rope. This only made the Kishin laugh even more.

Melody laughed and looked up at the Kishin, "I don't know why you are laughing. My plan is working." The Kishin looked down and twisted its head trying to see anything that could translate what her plan was. He didn't see anything.

Melody suddenly began tugging on her yo-yo string. The Kishin paused as it looked down at it. What was she trying to do? Finally he felt a tug on his rope. He looked down at the rope to see what his rope got caught on. He paused as he saw Melody's yo-yo attached. The sharp blade had come at and dug into the rope and caught it. He felt his control on the rope wane and the rope itself even began going slower. Melody was swinging her yo-yo in the exact opposite direction then him. So the two conflicting forces of his swing and her swing were canceling each other out. His weapon was slowing down! His cage was breaking down and soon it would disappear completely!

"NO!" he shouted as he tried to break his rope free from the yo-yo's blade tugging and swinging the rope wildly. Melody smiled as the rope's frantic movements broke the cage open. Melody smiled as she dashed out into the open and rushed over to the wall. The Kishin's attention was focused solely on the yo-yo rather then on Melody.

Melody leapt up and towards the wall. She compressed her legs and kicked off of the wall, using one of the strengths that Meisters were known for, to propel herself up and into the air towards the Kishin. He didn't notice it until it was too late. Melody spun around and launched a powerful kick at the Kishin. The Kishin feet slipped off of the ceiling due to the force. He fell off of the ceiling and panicked as he fell, flailing his arms and legs all about. He neared the ground and finally crashed into the ground, spitting up blood from force.

Melody landed next to him, but unlike him, she landed well and on both of her feet. She grimaced as her injured ankle nearly broke underneath her own weight. She ignored and limped over to the Kishin's rope and broke Shi free from the rope. She continued to limp out of the room and towards the door, she pushed it open and looked out of the room. She let out a sigh of relief as no Kishins were around. If one was around, she would be in tremendous trouble.

* * *

><p>Okay, a good fight to get me back in the swing of things. Big surprises next time, so stay tuned!<p> 


	43. Chapter 42 Bad News

**Bad News**

Ash and Michael were moving out checking every hallway for any case of either Kishins or Melody. They had already encountered one or two Kishins, but that was nothing more then a quick exercise. The thought that three of their friends would soon be sentenced to their deaths was more then a good enough motivator.

It was hard to swallow the fact that they were running away from the location of one of their friends. That they were leaving her by herself for the time being. It hurt them both, but they had to ignore it. May was under the protection of Vigrid, nobody would touch her. They just had to find Melody before she got into any trouble. It wasn't an easy decision, but they made it. They just had to hope it was a good one.

"Did you hear what Vigrid said?" asked one of the Kishins who were walking down the hallways. Michael held Ash back. This could be vital information discussing their invasion or even the plans they had for the war. Michael wanted to hear it. Hopefully, it was good news.

"About what?" asked the second Kishins as they stopped to talk and share information. "I haven't heard anything past about the intruders that we found out about. Does Vigrid have some sort of plan to deal with them or is it our job?"

"Never mind that information!" shouted the first Kishin. He slapped the second Kishin upside the head to make sure he knew not to talk again. "I'm talking about the prisoner we got. The little girlie." This time Ash had to hold Michael back to make sure he didn't charge at the two of them. "Apparently, Vigrid has reason to believe that the intruders infiltrated this base just to save her, so Vigrid is gonna execute her! HA HA HA! Just imagine the looks on the faces of the intruders when they get all the way to the prison just to see her beheaded corpse! It'll be hilarious!" The second Kishin joined in laughing.

Michael and Ash snapped at the same time. Ash charged out and with a mighty swing of his arm, he brought Xander's sharp blade around and into the Kishin's soft and unguarded neck. The blade swept straight through leaving a clean and neat cut. The second Kishin gasped with horror as he tried to move back, but Michael was behind him holding him still. "What's the matter?" asked Ash as he moved towards the Kishin with his blade already extended as he lifted it towards the Kishin's neck, "I thought you found beheaded corpses to be hilarious."

(-With Melody and Shi-)

Melody stumbled through the halls. She was starting to breathe heavily now. She was running almost all day today and she didn't even get a good night's sleep. Her heart was beating fast. She wanted to believe that it was because of the insane running and exercise, but she also believed that it was because she was slowly growing more and more afraid. She was all alone in this base filled with monsters, anxiously awaiting for her to get tired and drop down. Not to mention her ankle was still crushed from the last fight.

She was rushing as fast as she could through the halls trying to escape Kishin. She double checked the halls every few seconds just to make sure she wasn't being followed. Her heart was just speeding up as she tried to remember which paths the Kishin had took her down, which turns he had taken. She didn't remember anything...she was all turned around. When the Kishin was taking her around the base, he was on ceiling, but now Melody was on the floor. The paths and turns were all switched up, she couldn't tell which one was supposed to be lefts or rights.

She would just have to ignore the idea of finding her way back to the group and just head to the prison. Michael and Ash should be heading to the prison to rescue May. If she headed there, she should be able to meet up with them. She took another step forward and nearly fell forward. She grumbled as she crawled across the floor careful to avoid putting more pressure on her foot. She backed up against the nearby wall and leaned against it.

She looked around her and noticed some pipes in the wall above her. Melody struggled to her feet and sent Shi up, wrapping the yo-yo around the pipes. She pulled down on it breaking the pipes off and sending it clattering to the floor. Melody used Shi's blades to slice it down and cut the segment of pipe into a perfect size. She then stood up using the pipe as leverage. The pipe made a crappy cane for her to use and walk with, but it definitely was better then limping around on her ankle.

Melody clambered forward on the makeshift cane and tried to figure out where the prison was. Melody peered out one of the windows and checked the outside. They had ran around the base nearly two times. When she looked outside of the base and at the surroundings she tried to put her location together. If she could then she could backtrack using the windows rather then running around aimlessly until she chanced upon something that would help her.

She frowned as she looked outside. She should've expected what she saw, but she let her hope get the better of her. The Kishins were based in the desert...so everything around them looked the exact same. A desolate wasteland with only a few sand dunes and a few cracks in the earth...nothing that could help Melody pinpoint her location. She backed away from the walls, "Shi do you know which way to go?" she asked as she looked down the halls frantically.

Shi's reflection bit its lip. Ze looked around the hall trying to find a way out. Ze found nothing. Shi shook its head and looked up at Melody, "I don't know. I was wrapped up in the huge cord the entire journey, I didn't see anything except the cord. I know! We should shout and then Ash and Michael will hear us and come running!" Shi took in a deep breath.

"NO!" shouted Melody. Her hands jumped back up to her mouth and covered it. She flinched as she looked down the halls. The last thing they wanted was anything that attracted attention. Without thinking she immediately dashed forward and dove into the nearest room. She was breathing heavily and needed a few moments to calm down, especially since she may have just made thousands of Kishins aware of their location.

In the best case scenario she would've just dove into the infirmary. She could use some of the medicine or equipment, but it wasn't the best case scenario. The room was without a doubt, probably the dorm rooms for the Kishin. The beds looked like they would collapse if even Melody would just lay down in one. She went over to the beds and picked up one of the pillows.

"Pillow fight!" exclaimed Shi. It was close to an excited whisper, he listened to Melody and understood her reason for not wanting him to yell. However, he also didn't understand what Melody was looking for. What kind of helpful thing would a Kishin keep in his bed? Especially when you thought about the fact that Vigrid kept an incredibly tight ship. Nobody would have anything just laying around. Chances are the Kishins here were too scared to even sneeze without his say-so.

Melody ignored Shi as she went over to the bed and tore some thread out of the sheet. Using the thread she tied the pillow around her ankle to help cushion any other blows she might take. She backed up against the door and peered out of it. She closed the door quickly as soon as she saw a Kishin walking out around there. Melody breathed deeply as she tried to calm down. It was hard to know whether or not the Kishin came here because he heard her yell or if it was just on his patrol. If it was the latter he'd be gone soon enough.

"I know I heard something over in this direction," he bellowed loudly. Melody collapsed into a pile on the floor. She was starting to worry even more as time passed. It seemed like trouble was coming her way. Maybe eventually he'd get tired and leave, until then Melody was trapped.

"Maybe they went and ducked into one of these rooms," questioned a second voice. Melody felt faint. She didn't see the second Kishin and now two Kishins were going to bust into the room and take her out. She was already tired, but she didn't really have a choice...now did she? Melody bent over and stuck Shi into the other side of the door and pulled it tight. It was rudimentary tripwire, but it should work and give Melody a temporary moment of a one-on-one fight.

Melody flinched as she heard the sound of glass break. The window that she had been looking out of and to the outside had been smashed into a million pieces by a big halberd. The halberd had split the window open with an incredible force and slid straight in. The sharp spearhead at the top of it had come crashing in and pierced one of the Kishins in the back causing him to smash into the wall.

"Wha?" shouted the Kishin's partner as he turned around to face the cause of the ruckus. He paused as he saw dozens of sheets of paper fluttering around him. He looked side-to-side frantically trying to see what was causing the levitating papers, but saw nothing. Finally all of the papers came flying inwards at him. They delved into his skin leaving small shallow cuts in his skin. One of those cuts wouldn't have done anything, but sting for a few seconds, however, there were HUNDREDS of papers flying around him. Each and every one of those sheets had swarmed around him delivering sharp and painful cuts into his body.

The two Kishins collapsed onto the ground with a loud thud. Melody froze as she heard two bodies hit the ground. She was completely unaware of whatever was happening outside of the room. She could only think about the noise and whatever was occurring, just five feet away from her. She was stuck in her room with some sort of fight occurring so close. It sounded like whoever it was was the enemies of the Kishins, but that didn't quite mean they were her allies.

She heard four voices. "That's three down...another couple million left to go," muttered a female's voice, "this is a pain. Eva, take over. I'm going to catch some Z's." Melody paused as she heard the faintly familiar voice.

"Helena!" whined another female voice loudly, "you can't just sleep out here! This is a Kishin base! What if more Kishins come here? Bridget? Zeek? Can you please help me talk some sense into her! I don't want to just wait around for another Kishin to show up!"

"We should just keep on moving," said a third female voice. "Its obvious that you are just going to hold us back. If what Elena said is right we are already falling behind the rest of the group. We already got split up from the other half of the group that we came here with. We came here looking for Melody and the rest of them. Since May was taken we all came here to save them and now not only have we not found them, we got split up!"

Melody perked up as she heard the familiar names. She stood up and burst through the doors. Sure enough, Bridget and Helena were both just outside the door. Melody was so happy to see a friendly face that the strength that was holding her up disappeared. She collapsed and fumbled into Bridget.

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><p>Okay, some nice sized surprises, eh? The two teams tied for the fourth character pair are currently Bridget and Zeek and Helena and Evalyn. They are tied at five votes a piece. In other words at least ten people have voted...I wonder how many people reviewed my last chapter...<p> 


	44. Chapter 43 The Other Team

**The Other Intruders!**

Two young meisters roamed through the hall. One of them was Msicha Aldair armed with a shark-headed whip. Mischa currently had her hideous sludge brown hoodie pulled up over her face. She had to constantly pulled her long purple hair out of her face as they ran. They had entered through the front door and were making sure that they recognized their way back. Every few steps, Mischa would lash out with her whip and leave a scratch on a wall. After they rescued everybody they would simply follow the scratch marks out. She highly doubted that any Kishins would be smart enough to notice.

Along with her was the student body president Semper Ais. He was a little less confident then Mischa was as the two of them ran about the base. He simply came along as he thought it would increase his numbers. After all, who wouldn't vote for the guy who put his life on the line to save a fellow student? No one. He would be a hero in the next election. He had secretly planned to sneak away and leave. He didn't really want to put his neck on the line for some student he barely knew, he just wanted people to think he had. Only problem was nobody was giving him any breaks, not even his own partner, Rhya, who vehemently protested in numerous languages (most of the time in a foul language as well) whenever he tried it.

The two teammates Mischa and Semper were easily the most mismatched group possible. Mischa ignored the majority of whatever Semper did or said and Semper did the same. Semper was exactly everything that Mischa hated rolled into one. He was cheerful, 'good-looking' (whatever that means nowadays), and even talkative. Mischa was one of the few students that didn't vote for Semper during the last election and refused to do so for the next one.

Semper, on the other hand, immediately noted that Mischa was beneath him. He had a tendency to look down on everyone, but he looked down on Mischa especially. Her mismatched hair color, one side was long and purple, the other short and blonde. If you combined that with her sludge colored hoodie, there was no way that she even neared him on the level of attractiveness. Combine that with the fact that her personality made her foul person to try to talk and she was way beneath him. The only that ticked Semper off more then that he was paired up with her, was the fact that she thought of him as an equal! An equal! It was no more then the greatest insult to Semper's ego he had ever had! But nonetheless he kept on smiling.

"I think we are going the wrong way," said Mischa with her downtrodden tone. Semper was surprised this may have been the first time she had ever started the conversation, "what if that Kishin lied to us? What if he sent us towards the captain or a trap? We could be marching right into a trap!" Mischa turned her head around and looked behind her, "we could die here!"

Semper murmured something under his breath. The thought had crossed his mind as well, but he didn't care to bring it up. If anything Mischa seemed extremely willing to give herself up to save a fellow student, so she would just sacrifice herself for him. Then Semper would just leave and let her do her job. After all, it was only natural that he deserves to survive. He could even tell the students back at the school about how bravely he fought and no one would be around to dispute him...asides from Rhya, but he was fairly certain he could talk her into backing him.

The two of them were both too deep in their own thoughts, Mischa in her worries and Semper in his devious little plan, to hear the Kishin sneak up on them. If it wasn't for Rhya shouting, "Căutaţi*" at the last minute they would've been pounded horribly. Mischa and Semper both jumped forward, but away from the Kishin behind them to minimize the damage.

"Oh...you dodged my swing...I'm so sad," muttered the Kishin as he brought his large club back to his side. He was big, bigger then most Kishins. He had the standard build of most fighters. He had nice-sized arms and legs, bulging with muscles. Despite his powerful build, he looked incredibly depressed, "I'll have to make sure I hit you with my next attack...or I'll be even sadder."

"Looks like a big one came out to play," muttered Semper as he brought his sharp sickle out. Rhya was a dangerous weapon, a sickle and chain. He looked over at Mischa's weapon, a whip. They both used similar weapons despite the difference in their personality. Semper's weapon was a little bit stronger, in his mind though. Both ends of his chain was a potentially deadly weapon. One side had a sharp blade and the other side had a weight, giving him versatility which was one of the biggest advantages in a fight. Mischa's weapon was basically a knock-off of his.

The Kishin lifted the heavy club into the air and brought is smashing back down. Both Mischa and Semper dodged to the sides with ease. They avoided the devastating downwards force of the swing, but only by a hair. Semper and Mischa both lashed out with their weapons sharp edges. The shark head of the Mischa's whip struck bearing itself in the Kishin's side while Semper's sickle drew blood from the Kishin's other side. The two weapons both buried themselves into his body. The Kishin stumbled backwards from the force, but he quickly regained his balance and brought his club back around. He smashed it in the ground towards Mischa.

"Hey!" shouted Shark from his reflection in the metal shark-head of her whip, "I don't wanna get even one scratch, you hear me? If I wake up with a scratch on me, I'll feed you to the fishes!" Mischa rolled her eyes at her partner's empty threats.

The Kishin only bellowed a loud laugh. He brought his club down at the two meisters once more. Mischa and Semer both expertly dodged it. Semper recovered first with an expert flick of the wrist, he brought the ball end of his chain around and flung it at the Kishin's head. The Kishin brought his free hand up and grabbed a hold of the chain. He yanked it backwards pulling Semper off of the ground and into the air. Semper twisted his body around. He placed his feet onto the ceiling and used his legs to absorb the blow. He jumped off of the ceiling and sent his body down. He let his chain loose and sent himself forward past the Kishin's shoulder. He grabbed onto the chain once more this time further down and pulled onto it. The rest of the chain came flying forward and of course at the end of it was the sickle.

The Kishin ducked down and the let the chain graze over his head. He spun back around and lifted his club up above his head. He was about to bring it down with all of his strength upon Semper's head, but at the last second Mischa brought her whip around and into the Kishin's head. The Kishin stumbled, more likely due to surprise rather then damage. He pivoted around and prepared a low swing with his club to knock Mischa down.

Just like before, Semper struck out with his chain. The heavy ball hit the Kishin's side. The Kishin grimaced as he felt the pain, but he didn't stop his swing. It was slowed down from the surprise, but it was still plenty powerful. It was only due to Mischa's own speed and reflexes that she managed to dodge the blow, but even then it was only by a hair.

They were currently set up in a very strategic position. One on each side. For the Kishin to attack Mischa he had to turn his back to Semper and drop his guard. The same could be said if he went to attack Semper. With the set-up the Kishin would always have his back to one of them, but that was only one of the benefits that Mischa and Semper had on him. The second was their weapons. The flexibility as well as range of their weapons only made the fight easier for them.

Mischa landed and drove forward. She dodged beneath the Kishin's arm and placed herself on the side. Semper mimicked that movement on his side. They were both moving at a counter-clockwise movement around the Kishin. They were both moving in perfect unison. However fast Mischa ran, Semper matched it. They made sure they were always on opposite ends. Six and twelve, ten and four, one and seven. They were keeping in perfect harmony while the dashed about the Kishin's large body.

They were paying equal attention to themselves and each other as well as the Kishin. The Kishin made numerous attempts to smash the duo into the ground with his club, but it failed again and again. They kept in rhythm and timing with each other even if one of them dodged the other was already mimicking the move as well as striking out at him. This just proved that in terms of skill the Kishin was outclassed. The only problem was the Kishin had the sheer power and endurance to make up for it. He lifted the large club into the air and brought it back down, kicking up the tiles and ripping them from the floor.

"Crap!" muttered Mischa being thrown back from the force. She landed on her feet, but the force still spoke for itself. "If things keep up like this then he's going to make a big enough ruckus to summon all of his buddies. They are going to hear this nose and rush here to see what's up. We need to beat him up as quickly as possible. We don't want to fight anymore then we have to." Semper nodded in agreement.

The two of them struck out simultaneously, Mischa's whip wrapped tightly around the Kishin's tree trunk of a leg while Semper's chain did the same to the other leg. The Kishin paused as he looked down and tested on the two weapons holding him still. Both of them broke off in opposite direction. Semper going clockwise and Mischa going counter-clockwise. Their paths crossed ever full circle, but they didn't bother to say anything to each other, both of them focusing on their job. Finally, they both met resistance. They began pulling with all of their strength. The Kishin's legs were being pulled into separate directions. The force on the weapons prevented the Kishin from being able to spin loose, but there was still force on them, they began to dig deeper into the Kishin's flabby hide.

The tightening of the chains and whip against the Kishin made any movement almost impossible. His arms were tightened against his body and he had to face off against the strength of the two meister rather then just one and there was also the matter of the weapon's own will that made them want to squeeze the Kishin even tighter. Despite the fact that the Kishin's body was trapped, he continued to struggle against his bindings.

The bindings began slide amongst the Kishin's body as he struggled more. They finally slid all the way up and onto the Kishin's neck. The chain and the whip dug into his neck, cutting off any and all shouts he tried to send out to warn his comrades. Finally with one final pull the Kishin disappeared leaving behind a single red Kishin egg.

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><p>*Căutaţi=look out (I used an English to Romanian translator for this...so it may be wrong)<p>

Keeping the voting fair. The other two are here and easily dispatched a Kishin with their unique fighting style.


	45. Chapter 44 Battle of Titans

**The Fight of Titans!**

May was asleep. Even as a prisoner she still have that much strength to stay up too much longer. She missed out on most of her sleep last night and now she was just sitting in a cell. Boredom combined with lack of sleep usually put people to sleep and it did so to Melody, too. She shifted uncomfortably in the cell. The floors were still just as hard as they were before. She was just incredibly groggy to fall asleep here. She sat up in her bed and looked around. She sighed. It took a few moments to remember where she was and why. It definitely wasn't a good memory. She snapped to attention and scrambled to the farthest corner of her cell anxious to get as far away from the center of the room as possible. Just outside her cell was Vigrid. He was calmly sitting out there on a stool with a small book in his hand.

Vigrid looked over at May. As if noticing she had just woken up Vigrid smiled and closed his book, "Sun Tzu's _The Art of War,_" he stated. May took notice of the impossibly big blade on his back. "I do believe this is the firs time we met. I am Vigrid." He stuck his hand into the cell and offered her a handshake. May didn't move from the corner, she actually backed more up into it. She had no idea or information on this man, but she felt one thing from being this close to him. Complete and total terror. He exuded a horrible aura.

May was reminded of the textbooks the school had on actual full-powered Kishins. The fact that they had something called a Madness Wavelength. The last Kishin that went on a rampage had an aura that goaded people into becoming insane, this one just seemed to terrorize anybody and everybody within his vicinity. May was forced into the corner of the cell in a desperate attempt to distance herself from the aura, however, at this range there was nothing she could do.

"No need to bend over in fear little miss," apologized Vigrid as he got up and moved the stool to the side. He looked in at her and chuckled. "I recently met with one of my brothers. A chance occurrence with my brother Marburg." May flinched at the name. "I'm not irritated at you, DWMA students, for beating him...if anything I'm excited. Do you know when wars cause the most damage?" May didn't answer she just remained in the corner, staring wide-eyed over at him. "Its when the two armies are at equal power. When one side is overwhelmingly more power then the other the fight is finished in a split second and very little damage is done. When two sides are equal in terms of power, the fight continues as long as possible."

"Why are you so interested in wars?" asked May. She flinched as she backed up into the corner. Vigrid lifted his eyebrow as he looked over at his new conversational partner. This was the first time she had said something to him.

"No worries," said Vigrid as he lifted his hand up to make May calm down, "I understand your interest. Back in the old days all four of us were friends. Me, Marburg, Lord Death, and another brother of ours. We were great friends and even greater allies. We dominated everybody who stood in our way. Originally I was dead set against wars of all kinds. I aimed to end it and finish them all off as quickly as possibly. For awhile in the ancient world just me standing on the field was enough to quell a war, but it slowly changed.

"The wars of the humanity always raged on no matter how many of them died or was tortured. No matter how the war continued and raged on people never gave up their cause and continued to fight. It was ridiculous, but I planned on them eventually coming around and seeing the light. Marburg was slowly getting fed up with humanity at the same time. Me and Lord Death held true to the thought that humans were still on the right path. Marburg rebelled and fought against Lord Death. I held back...it was a duel between those two, neither of them would kill each other. They would fight and tire each other out...that's all I thought would happen.

"But I had no idea about Lord Death's latest invention...

(-Several millenniums ago-)

"Death! This is where I prove I am right and you are wrong!" shouted Marburg as he began to stir his hand around and in the air. A stream of blue gas slowly began to leak out of his hand and into the air. The air began to swirl and form a small ball of gas. "This is my latest airborne disease! This was supposed to teach the idiotic humans how to behave properly, but they found some blasted plant and saved their lives! But I will no longer try to correct them, starting today will be their deaths! They should just wither up and disappear into their graves!" Marburg tossed the poisonous gas forward at Lord Death.

Lord Death didn't bother dodging it. He brought his hands straight down and into the gaseous ball, in a chopping motion dispersing it with a mighty swing. "You shouldn't have done this. My goal is to save the humans. They still have time and the ability to correct them. I've seen them in action. I'll be the first to admit that there are the rare bad seed, but as a whole they are moving and progressing on to the right path. They will correct themselves! They just need time and guidance! That's our job!"

"Don't hold them to such a high a standard! Robbery, murder, wanton sexual activities! You think they can correct themselves even after this? You are a fool! The only way to save them is to destroy them all! Our planet is already in turmoil because of them! Do you really think it can survive any longer? They'll keep destroying it if they have their way! And you are letting them!" Marburg sent another stream of gas spiraling towards Death.

Death brought his scythe forth, just now getting serious with him. He deflected the gas away with a swing. "I was afraid that you wouldn't change your mind. I've tried to redirect you down the right path, but apparently, you are dead-set on the destruction of humans! That means I must do everything in my power to defeat you!" Death shot through the skies like a black bullet. He was immediately right up in front of Marburg. Death brought his scythe upwards and into Marburg's gut knocking him upwards and into the air. Death didn't stop there and shot right up into the air chasing Marburg down.

Marburg caught himself flying and halted his progress. Marburg grunted as he began to summon a thick gooey liquid. The liquid covered his hand. He brought his hand down and deflected the Death's scythe with a swing of his own hand. Due to the fact that Death wielded a scythe with two hands both of his hands were knocked to the side, leaving his guard open. Marburg didn't waste a single second, he brought his free hand downwards smashing it into Death's face. Death was sent flying back down to the ground.

Vigrid watched the fight from a distance. Their fourth brother wasn't interested in watching the two of them tear each other apart, so he was absent today. Vigrid was watching with the utmost interest. While it lacked the strategic flare that a war possess, a fight between these two titans would without a doubt be of incredible interest. It was a high-level exchange between the two of them where a brief moment of respite for either fight would mean the end.

Vigrid had already processed the odds between these two. Death's weapon gave him a longer reach as well as a deadly edge, literally. The scythe's blade was honed to a level impossible for any human to ever achieve. It could end the match in one blow. Combine that with Death's god-like Soul Wavelength and that explained why Death was hailed as one of the men who could bring about the end of the world.

Marburg was a different form of demon. In terms of variety nobody could hold a candle to Marburg. He had an endless supply of varying diseases. Of course, diseases weren't fast-acting and could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few months to finally show any results. This fight wouldn't last that long, but the side-effects of the quick acting diseases could tip the odds in his favor long enough for him to deal the finishing blow.

Once more Death disappeared into a blur racing off towards Marburg. Marburg brought his arms up and blocked the attack using a heavy goop. Marburg reached and brought his elbow down smashing into Death's back, sending him tumbling towards the ground. Marburg reached into his mouth and pulled out a bright blue glob. Marburg reached back and then quickly flung his arm forward firing the bight blue ball downwards at Death.

Death brought his scythe up and in-between him and the ball. The ball slammed into the scythe and still forced Death down further. Death recovered just before he hit the ground and broke free from the downwards spiral. He backed up and examined his scythe. That was a tricky technique Marburg just used. There's a disease that can harden a human's body to something similar to solid stone. Marburg was the creator of all diseases. Marburg could also amplify it past the normal disease. That's what that condensed blue goop was. An accelerated disease that turned a simple liquid like that into something comparable to concrete.

Death began to move, but froze shortly. His body was starting to have adverse reactions...Marburg must've hid something in that last attack, a second disease coated in the first. He managed to destroy the first liquid-born disease, but the one that was within it was probably an air-borne one. When Death destroyed the coating he released the disease into the air.

They were pretty close in terms of power. However, Death still had his secret weapon. The Prison Jar. Marburg's power was already starting to wane...Death had dealt a few hits to him and even if he hadn't, Marburg's wanton attacks were probably tiring him out as well. Still Death wasn't going to hold back now, he'd beat Marburg down as hard as he could handle. Death flew upwards at Marburg, slamming his scythe into Marburg's body. Marburg was tossed backwards from the force. Death didn't allow him to distance himself, he followed right behind him launching a medley of vicious swings with his scythe.

Vigrid did nothing but watch as the battle heated up on both sides. He could tell the fight was slowly beginning to swing in favor of Death.

Death broke free from the monotony of their fight and slapped Marburg back down into the ground with a swing of his scythe. Marburg was gasping from air as he tried to recover from the heavy swing. Death didn't give him that chance, he bolted down and appeared in front of him. Death was holding out a small clay jar in front of him. Marburg looked at the jar, "what is that?" he spat with a disgusted tone, "a peace offering?"

"No," said Lord Death as he backed up and away from the jar, "its something that I will hate myself for doing for the rest of my eternal life, but its something that must be done. Its your home for the next three millennium..." The jar opened up and began sucking the air around it in. It consumed Marburg in an instant and closed back up.

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><p>2012 words (not counting the title and the author's note) according to my computer! I consider this to be an amazing achievement (yes, I am one of those weird guys that gets excited over stuff like this)! Anyways, onto the actual story quite nice, yes? Marburg versus Death fight abbreviated. With Marburg being sealed away for a long time!<p>

Also, guys I understand how awesome ties are...they are pretty nice, but seriously...one more vote for both Helena and Eva as well as Bridget and Zeek? Now they both have six votes...I think you guys just like to do stuff like this to antagonize me.


	46. Chapter 45 The Other Prisoner

**The Other Prisoner**

"I had no idea that Lord Death was planning on something like that," muttered Vigrid, "if I had I may have interfered. However, I didn't. I never interfered with their fight and I let what happened, happen. I shrugged it off. It was a one-on-one duel, I had no other reason to interfere...I always thought Marburg was a bit of an extremist, anyways. The elimination of nearly the entire human race seemed a bit extreme. I did not think that all of them were selfish pigs that deserved that kind of punishment. Locking Marburg away for the next few millenniums to cool off may have been for the better." Vigrid fingered his sword as he thought about it.

"However, I was naïve when I thought that," said Vigrid as he stood up and began to pace, "very, very naïve. Back then I looked at the human race like people look at babies. Full of potential...full of hope, but now that baby is fully grown and it is a TERROR! I have witnessed every single war, every kindergarten squabble that you humans got into! Whenever another man so much as looked at you the wrong way a fight would break out! Wars became rampant and every minute I was stuck watching another one of you guys die at the hands of another one. And humans weren't the only ones to suffer many animals have died as a result of your unjustified wars!"

"Not all of those fights were unjustified!" shouted May trying to defend the human race, "violence isn't an answer, but sometimes its the only thing that works. Its either give in or resort to violence! Like you Kishins are doing right now by attacking us! What good does it do you to attack us? We are the good guys! The DWMA has extremely low rates for random fights and we never been involved in a war!"

"You guys are a wall," muttered Vigrid as he sat back down and looked her in the eyes. "The criminals...the ones I want to destroy are the same ones you are protecting. If the enemy of my enemy is my friend...then the friend of my enemy is my enemy! That's what you guys are! I have nothing against the DWMA...I don't blame Death for what he did all those years ago. But you guys are just on the opposing team. I was on the same team as you once, so I don't even blame you for being fooled by those humans, but I'm going to get rid of them. And if I must shed a little semi-innocent blood for a worthy cause like this...so be it."

"It doesn't matter!" shouted May as she jumped towards the bars and gripped them in her hands, "if you kill innocent people then that makes you just as bad as the people you are trying to kill! Don't do something so wrong and try to be the good guy in this war! Please! We don't need to do this! You sided with humans and gave us a chance once, we just need one more!"

"American Revolutionary, World War I, World War II, Palestine-Israel war. There's four of the chances I gave your species! And there's still more wars going on everyday!" shouted Vigrid as he took his sword off of his back and slammed it into the ground. May cringed at the show of strength. "Not only wars, but there is a countless, innumerable amount of pointless killings, murders, and destruction that occurs everyday in the world. You expect me to just turn my back and say the lives that were already lost and the more lives that will be lost when I give you another chance MEAN NOTHING! Unlike Marburg I value human life, I still see the same potential as I did when I looked at them all those years ago, but now that potential has become muddied. A stern hand is what's needed now!

"I'm sorry," said Vigrid as he backed away from the cell and turned around, "I lost my temper there for a moment. I'm usually not this talkative. Only people I ever chatted like this with was my brothers. I guessed being around dim-witted Evil Humans have left me devoid of all conversational partners. I haven't seen any of them in such a long time...not since Death's fight with Marburg. I barely even knew about the DWMA until a little bit over a year ago. A few months ago I felt a stirring in the air. It was in that instant that I knew that Marburg was breaking free. I thought about going down and seeing him break through his bonds, but I figured he wouldn't have wanted me to see him in that state of disrepair...imagine my surprise when I found out that he broke free and was in an even worse shape due to some students from the DWMA!"

May shivered as she wondered if Vigrid knew that it was partly her fault that Marburg was beaten. It didn't look like it was Vigrid wasn't directing his bursting rage towards her. He was focused on other problems rather just her. She sighed with relief as he seemed to be calming down, even though his Madness Wavelength didn't let up and was still unnerving May. She found herself already slowly retreating back to the corner of the cell.

"Now, as we speak, some students from the same school are coming to take me down," said Vigrid as he sat back down and picked his book up. "I hope they are on the same level as me. I haven't really stretched my muscles for awhile...and when I do it was usually against trash. Nobody is on my level aside from my brothers. I hope these students can at least make me sweat..."

"Well, they were the ones to crush Marburg," said May with confidence as she looked at Vigrid. "If you are truly on the same level as your brothers then they'll beat you too!" May didn't quite know what to say about it though. While it was true that they took Marburg down, it took three students and some teachers to do so and even then Marburg escaped.

"Interesting," said Vigrid as he got up and headed towards the door to leave. "It looks like I may just be able to get a work-out before I destroy Lord Death." Those were his last words as he disappeared through the door.

"Finally, he's gone. I'm usually pretty nice to everybody, but he just gives me the goosebumps" said a second voice. May jumped at the sound of it, it was a woman's voice, which calmed her down a bit, but still a voice from out of nowhere was still pretty scary. "Calm down, I'm on your side. Well, I guess as a prisoner I'm not exactly free to choose which side I'm on. I'm part of the DWMA. I'm the other Death Scythe they tried to fly in. I was flying, but I was ambushed by some Evil Humans while in the skies. Death Scythes may have some incredible power, but if you knock us out of the sky we are just in as much trouble as everybody else.

"Luckily, I was able to survive the perilous fall, but I was unconscious for the time being," she said as stood up and walked towards the prison bars. She stuck her hand out and tried to wrap it around the wall for May to see, but it wasn't a very good effort. She sighed as she slumped back down onto the floor.

Vigrid wasn't so careless apparently. If a meister could grab hold of a weapon they may be able to smash out of their cells. That was especially true for her. Her weapon could probably smash the wall into pieces, but without a meister who could wield her properly the chance was slim.

May couldn't see her or even tell that she was human, but that didn't change the fact she was. She was six feet tall and only 130 pounds giving her very light and small frame, asides from the height. She had gray hair, but that was due to genetics rather then age. Her hair flowed down way past her shoulders and stopped at her waist. Her skin was darker then most, a dark cocoa color. She sighed and slumped down even closer to the floor.

She was dressed decently enough with long black jeans as well as a low-cut gray shirt, but that was mostly covered up by her black zip-up jacket. She was however upset at the current circumstances. The Evil Humans obeyed Vigrid's command and had stripped her of her flame-patterned scarf as it could be used to hang herself. They also took away her two-inch high heels as they could be seen as a weapon of last resort. So, there she was huddled in a jail cell all by herself without her shoes. She felt...insulted.

"Um..." asked May finally working up the courage to speak to the unknown person in the other jail cell, "who are you?" May was trying to put together through a somewhat panicky method. A female Death Scythe. There were quite a few notable ones, but none of them came to mind right now. May supposed it was possible that it was a guy, just a very, very, VERY feminine sounding guy, but that rang even less bells. She was left clueless as to who was sharing this prison with her.

The woman twitched uncomfortably. It was a question she still wasn't comfortable with, especially with someone she didn't know. If anything the question just made her even more uncomfortable. She fidgeted for a second or two in her cell, before answering. She hung her head between her shoulders, "my name...my name is Myrrh Furlough." She cringed as she heard May's audible gasp as she recognized the name from the school's records.

(-outside the prison-)

"Hello," said the tall Evil Human as he waved at Vigrid. He had taken up the spot as the second-in-command in the base, although neither Vigrid nor the other Evil Humans agreed to this. He just asserted himself into this position. Vigrid ignored it and figured a second-in-command wasn't the worst thing in the world. Although he was vastly annoyed at the fact that he let it leak that they had found out about the intruders, but wasn't that why Vigrid allowed him to be with him in the first place? To do things he would never do? It placed an strain onto his plans, no doubt, but that strain may be just what was needed.

The Evil Human chuckled as he followed in the footsteps of Vigrid. He had heard the entire story and while he admired Vigrid's desire and grandiose goal, he was irritated. The Evil Human snaked his hand into his pocket and produced a small knife. A cutting knife that had been sharpened over and over again to be at the peak of sharpness for this very moment. He had heard every word that Vigrid and the prisoner shared and that was what he had found upsetting.

Vigrid planned to get rid of every human because they were evil. He planned to purge the world of such atrocities such as wars and murders. If he did so, where would that leave the Evil Humans like him? They were guilty of murders, weren't they? Would Vigrid hunt them down and destroy them once they had served their purpose? Who the hell would turn on not only one's allies, but one's subordinates? Vigrid would. He had already admitted to launching a full-scale war on his so-called 'brother', would he really think twice about killing his subordinates...of course not. So it was then that he made his plan, he would kill Vigrid before Vigrid killed him.

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><p>Part of me wanted to name this chapter 'The Other Woman' as it fits and its kind of joke, but I figured 'The Other Prisoner' was better.<p> 


	47. Chapter 46 The Horrible Sight

**The Horrible Sight**

The tall Evil Human lurked behind Vigrid. The sparse lights giving Vigrid just a big enough shadow for him to walk in. The Evil Human didn't care that he was literally walking in another man's shadow, he preferred the dark. Hiding out there, where no one could see him, free from prying eyes. He gripped the knife so tightly his knuckles turned white. His eyes were dancing around, stopping at various points on Vigrid's body as if trying to figure out the best place to dig his knife into.

His body was thick with muscles. The Evil Human was starting to wonder if the knife was even long enough to slide through his layers of muscles and stab him in the heart...did he have a heart? His hand snapped up and looked at the back of Vigrid right at where his heart should be. He looked human, he even had a faint smell of human on him, like a Kishin would, but that rarely meant anything any more. The Evil Human began to unconsciously spin the knife around in his hand as he thought about.

The more and more he thought about it, the more he wanted to do it. He had been talking about it to himself for the past few minutes, digging that knife in through his tough body and straight into his heart. His short discussions about the right place to plunge it into slowly became fantasies for him. Those desires soon became someone screaming at him. His own mind was screaming at him to do it. To take his knife and shove it into the massive monster's body that stood in front of him. The screaming became a constant drone of 'do it, do it!' He smiled as he lifted the knife above his head, ready to plunge it into Vigrid's body with all of his strength behind it.

That was as far as he got. Vigrid swiveled around and brandished his sword all in the same moment. It took him less then a second to do so. Centuries of training building up the muscles to do it as well as the technique. Vigrid didn't even check to make sure he was right, to make sure the Evil Human was indeed holding a knife in his hand. His blade came slicing through the Evil Human's hand in a flash. The Evil Human stood there stunned, looking at his hand, which had came off of his body, writing on the ground. He could've sworn it was still moving. It was still trying to live, but Vigrid wouldn't even allow that. Vigrid brought his foot down on top of his head, squishing it and extinguishing all hope that was still in the Evil Human. The bones were pulverized and the skin was flattened with just one stomp of Vigrid's body.

The Evil Human backed up. He had never been on the receiving end of Vigrid's fury. Vigrid was normally quite calm and didn't see the point in punishing his comrades, unlike they would ever disobey him after seeing what he did to his enemies. But in this instant, he felt it. Vigrid's fury. Vigrid didn't have to do anything for him to feel, just standing in front of someone who could kill you, knowing that they will, and having to stand there and wait for it. Running away wouldn't do him any good, Vigrid was faster. Fighting back wasn't good either, Vigrid was much, much stronger. He was going to die.

The pain in having his arm chopped off combined with that all-knowing fear as he stood in front of Vigrid. His throat closed up, making it nearly impossible to breathe. His heart sped. It was beating faster then he ever thought possible. He stared at Vigrid who didn't even budge from his position.

Finally, the tension broke. Vigrid moved. It was a small movement, but it was enough to illicit the worst thoughts in a killer. It was subtle as well, but that only made it more terrifying for the Evil Human as he stared up at Vigrid. Vigrid smiled. Thoughts raced into the Evil Human head. He was enjoying himself so much imagining a simple knife in the back, that he was giddy! Vigrid had seen a knife in the back so many times it was simple...mundane...boring...not worth smiling over. The thoughts of what could make Vigrid smile, the man who had seen the worst possible things, sent his mind into overdrive. He imagined Vigrid would make it slow, take his time lob off his other hand, then probably a foot. Move upwards closer and closer to his heart...

Vigrid moved again. It was the end! It hand to be! Vigrid moved his empty hand forward and placed it gently on the Evil Human's shoulder. Vigrid didn't even have time to tighten his grip. The Evil Human slumped down onto the ground, his heart had given out. His entire body had decided on the final choice. His own brain overtaxed his body, the throat had closed so tightly no more air was getting in, and his heart was dealing with it all. The Evil Human vanished leaving behind a single floating red orb.

Vigrid chuckled as he looked down at it. Vigrid turned around and continued on his path to his own private room. Power and experience was something that made him truthfully the most terrifying thing on any battlefield, but there was another weapon he possessed. Something that made both of those look like kiddie toys. It was just an insane amount of pressure just by staring at him. It was like looking into a loaded cannon that was one foot away from you and watching it get lit. You could sense and hear the fire crackle down the small thread as it got ready to blow you to bits. The only thing you can think about for those seconds watching the thread growing shorter is your own death, your own violent death of getting blown to pieces. You expect it to come and you wait. That's the only thing you can do.

Physical warfare may have been what Vigrid excelled at and lived for, but that wasn't the only form of war he was talented with. Psychological warfare was a deadly weapon. While it may not be capable of leveling villages with it, it was more then enough to deal with small-minded Evil Humans and the like.

(-With Michael and Ash-)

The pair continued through the Kishin base at a frightening pace. The Evil Human already knew they were there and on high alert as a result, then the news of May's impending execution only managed to rile them up. So, to them stealth was no longer luxury they could afford...or for that case wanted. They had forgotten about the war and even their dear Death City. What they were doing was much more like a war path. They charged at any Evil Human that came around the corner and flattened it.

Ash was much more efficient with Xander in his hand. The two of them easily dispatched any Evil Humans that came around the corner. The fluid and quiet motion of his movements were gone and had become very strict and uncaring. He'd charge at his opponent, making as much noise as physically possible without trying to make noise, and dismember the Evil Humans with an incredibly bloody slash of his gauntlet.

Michael, even without his weapon, wasn't faring at badly all. While he definitely sagged behind the body count in comparison to Ash, he definitely destroyed his own fair bit of Evil Humans. He didn't have the steel gauntlet and blade that Ash had, his body was nearly as good. The heavy and durable body of the golem made him physically capable of crushing bones and jaws with a powerful swing of his arms.

This bloody show was no doubt keeping Vigrid very entertained as more and more status updates would flow to him. And since Vigrid was now the only person getting the status updates and he did not care about the weak Evil Humans he never announced to the base to approach with caution. As a direct result, the Evil Humans kept finding the two students coming at them and thinking they could best them, attacked. Thus more of the Evil Humans kept dying out dramatically and Vigrid kept getting status updates.

Ash and Xander didn't even slow down in their maddening run to eat a couple of Kishin Eggs, which was the whole goal of the DWMA. There was a near endless bounty of them floating about as the two of them rushed through the base. If Xander stopped to eat them there would be no doubt that he would reach the goal of 100 in a matter of a seconds, but the idea of his friend getting killed spoiled his appetite and made the thought of stopping to EVEN contemplate eating for EVEN a second, sound terribly inhuman.

They closing in on the prison cell and that was their goal. It would only be a matter of seconds at this pace.

(-With Melody-)

Melody was beaming with happiness as she finally found a group of allies after being separated from her original friends. While Helena required a bit of coaxing, but came around eventually. Bridget, however, immediately found it in herself to lend Melody a hand with her injured foot whether it was to help Melody or just to prove that she was the strongest in the group was still up to question. Evalyn helped as much as she could, but as a weapon...there wasn't much she could do except quote some of her limited medical knowledge as to how to help with the healing process, but most of that involved rest or some kind of medicine, which they had neither the time nor the supplies to act on.

For the time being, Melody just had strapped her makeshift pipe-cane to her back and leaned on Bridget. It wasn't much of an upgrade in terms of being comfortable, but it was much faster then before. Zeek stayed in his weapon form just like Eva in case of an emergency.

It surprised them, however, as there were very little Evil Humans that they had encountered so far. It was a shocking fact that base filled to the brim with Evil Humans would have so little Evil Humans for them to encounter. They had decided to chose stealth over a war path since they still had not received the news of May's impending execution, but still they weren't any Kishins in any of the hallways that they had checked.

Their opinions changed after looking down one more hallway. Their faces changed from the determination of saving their friends to mild horror to a form of calm happiness. Even Helena who was too lazy to portray her emotions most of the time found herself shocked at the scene. The hallway was riddled with Kishin Eggs. The group found it hard to move without bumping into one. It was a scene of pure carnage. They stood there for a couple of seconds taking in the scenery. The original thought on all of their minds was 'what force in hell could've done this?' to the acceptance of the fact that each of these Kishin Eggs represented one less Kishin they had to deal with.

"Did Michael and Ash do all this?" asked Melody hoping Shi would offer up an answer, but instead ze stayed quiet still taking in the view. "Or did somebody else move in?"

"I don't think Semper and Mischa would've done any of this," muttered Bridget remembering their clashing personality. She took another step forward and touched one of the Kishin Eggs, she shuddered at the thought of having to deal with all of these Kishins. It looked like a mob had attacked somebody and been destroyed.

"Maybe...Enma did this?" offered Eva remembering the rumors of the Death Scythe in the Death City. The most popular one was definitely his love of attacking Evil Human groups and destroying them. It was incredibly possible that he had come here when the second Death Scythe finally arrived. But for some reason that thought didn't make her feel any better. The fact that a human existed with both the power and desire to create a scene like this disturbed her greatly.

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><p>Vigrid's unbelievable power has just been shown off dismembering one of his allies. Michael and Ash's own rush seems to only be gaining fuel as they take down another group of Evil Humans. However, it looks like Melody's group has become frozen as the hideous sight of thousands of dead enemies.<p> 


	48. Chapter 47 An Unnerving Situation

**Gathering Strength!**

Enma smiled confidently, out of his weapon form as he looked down upon the Evil Human base he had just launched a full scale assault on. It was in his dearest desire to get in, grab the children and then leave, but he couldn't find them. Instead he found a bunch of sinners, Evil Humans, who deserved nothing more the gravest of all punishments. Death. Enma looked over at his partner.

His partner stood tall and looked very frail, like the slightest wind would knock him over despite the fact that he was the meister while Enma who had enough muscles for two men was the weapon. His partner had on a pair of short cargo pants as well as a T-shirt on and he looked very unprofessional in it, but that didn't matter to Enma or him for that matter. They had been partners ever since they had been admitted to the DWMA. They had stayed partner for one particular reason. They both wanted justice.

Outside of the school they had obtained real jobs as killing Evil Human only took up a part of their time and the DWMA's paychecks were getting smaller and smaller apparently. They both became high-class lawyers in order to further halt the flow of injustice. Of course, they both had slight problems in the courtroom. Enma had anger management problems and had been sent to a mandatory class several times, while his partner, Emilio, had had his tongue cut out when he was a child and couldn't speak in any human tongue. His limitations were grunts, sighs, and the occasional yawn. Of course, justice didn't words, just an iron fist which Emilio was more then happy to supply.

Admittedly, they were both enjoying finding and beating the Evil Humans to a pulp a lot more then they would ever have if they were to look for the kids. Enma's power wasn't made for recon it was made for destroying things.

However, they were sent here by Lord Death to find the students not to hunt Evil Humans so that was their goal. They were implying a hit-and-run strategy to bring the numbers down right now and hoped that that would increase the student's chances of survival till they were found.

Enma spoke up and broke the tension, "you alright now, Emilio?" he asked. Emilio's cut-off tongue had resulted in bad health throughout his entire life including a frightfully short period of action. He had to take a break every 15 or so minutes in order to recover from the shortness of breath and painful throbbing in his extremities. Emilio sighed and shook his head. Enma sighed in response and leaned back, resting his body as well. He was ready for it mentally and he was having a hard time holding it back, Emilio wanted to rush in and take care of them as much Enma did, but he couldn't. They would just have to believe that the students could hold on for another couple of minutes.

(-With Michael and Ash-)

They had taken a quick break. Pressed themselves up against the wall and they were both frozen in unison. Vigrid was standing on the other side of the wall, over the dead Evil Human like a hunter would stand over his latest prize buck. They felt like they should twist their heads around and look, but neither could. They had just watched this man easily kill someone on HIS team without a second thought. The power that he had shown dwarfed even Lord Death during his exercises, admittedly Lord Death probably withheld some powers. It was still a frightening thing to think. That someone they were planning on taking down could do that.

It certainly put a damper on their plans. Honestly, though, Ash's thought wasn't on taking him down. He pushed that thought down into the recesses of his mind. He didn't need that thought at the moment. He just needed to focus on moving. His idea body felt like it was encased in a block of ice. He felt frozen. He wasn't sure if the air conditioning was just turned up to make polar bears happy or something else, but either way he felt Vigrid's madness wavelength-like aura creep around his body and hold him still. It crept around his body like a snake and held him there.

If Vigrid knew he was here and turned down that hallway...he shuddered at the thought, which was apparently the only movement he could do. He wouldn't be able to run away. Ash tried to open his mouth and whisper something to Michael, hoping that a light conversation would take the edge off, but his mouth was welded shut. He couldn't pry his lips apart for the life of him. Just another part of his body that felt the icy aura of Vigrid.

Michael felt differently. He didn't feel the icy cold aura like Ash did. He felt something else. He felt the second aura that Vigrid commanded. Vigrid was a man bathed in blood, he possessed the aura Ash felt for a long time. The aura to instill fear into people. Before Marburg's fight with Lord Death that was another one of his famous weapons, a great way to halt war. However, that aura was no longer the only thing Vigrid had developed. Vigrid was no longer someone who wanted to stop wars and freeze them in their tracks, he wanted to cause them. And this second aura was just that.

Michael felt himself growing delirious. The nervousness that should've been driving his system was being washed away. He felt himself becoming more and more anxious. It was like there was something that perched itself on his shoulder like a miniature devil. Ordinarily, they should've been accompanying angel on his other shoulder, but that was gone. The devil scared it away with its low deep voice.

The devil was quite a talkative fellow as he whispered into Michael's ears. "Kill." The devil didn't seem to be the talkative type as it was just that word or variations of it that it said, "kill, murder, destroy, kill, kill, kill." He didn't want to kill and he resisted, but it was like driving and having kids in the back seat, screeching about 'pizza' and despite your shouting or reasoning...they keep saying it. Eventually you give in. That was what Michael felt. He felt his carefully constructed defense against such urges being broken down. They were being destroyed by the words ringing through Michael's head. It was slowly starting to overpower his reasoning and take control of the wheel. He felt like twisting around the corner and charging at Vigrid as weaponless as he was. Finally the devil stopped talking.

Michael collapsed onto the floor with a gasp of breath. He didn't realize how tightly he was clenching his fist and jaw. He looked over at Ash, who shared a similar look of relief. He wasn't sure if Ash felt a similar sensation or something else. They just stayed slumped there against the wall, trying to rationalize their own conditions.

Ash, who had frozen in fear, was trying to calm himself down and remind himself that he had seen several Evil Humans get butchered in cold blood...admittedly he had done some of that himself. He couldn't believe that he could freeze in fear. It was his plan to take out that monster and when he found himself face-to-face with it, he froze? That seemed like a plan that had one giant gaping hole in it now. How could he possibly find a way around it? A way not to fear immobilized by fear. And by the stunned silence of his two allies, Xander and Michael, he assumed that neither of them would be capable of giving him the answer he desired.

Michael dealt with the problem of rationalizing his way out of feeling like a murderer. His heart had been unfortunately removed when he became a golem, but if he still had it he was sure it would be beating faster then it ever should. And at what? The thought of murder. Not even the murder of someone who deserved it. Just the cold-blood thought of murder! He supposed it was the same thing most serial killers feel, a rising urge from the desire and then the sudden thrill of the action. He looked over Ash and temporary wondered if that urge came up again, who would he take it out? Vigrid, Ash, or possibly even May? He let out a deep breath as once more he tried to calm and collect his nerves.

Gathering his little remaining sanity, Michael leaned over towards the corner and made one final check for Vigrid. A brief sigh of relief came as he noticed it was completely void of the monster. He highly doubted they could take him on in their current state. Michael tried to stand up, but as he had assumed his mind was still fried and made his legs wobble as if they were made of jelly instead of metal. Ash had similar problems with standing, but finally with one final push they both found themselves on their feet and wanting to leave this god forsaken place even more. And with their mission almost accomplished it looked like they may just have their wish granted.

"Michael!" shouted Semper as he caught up to them. Michael flinched as his name being shouted. He still hadn't calmed down, but it looked like Ash was faring far worse as he had jumped up and could nearly touch the ceiling. "What's up with the hold-up?" asked Semper, putting on a friendly face as he approached the golem. Mischa followed behind him, but she didn't seem nearly as interested in what was going on as Semper.

"Sorry. We just saw Vigrid," said Michael as he tried to explain their jumpiness, "it looked like he killed an Evil Human, but we didn't get here fast enough to see." Michael had a mixture of emotion as he looked at their new rescuers. He was grateful that it was no longer three students with two weapons trying on this hopeless rescue mission, but he had to admit two more students didn't quite feel like the cavalry of hope...it was like another small drop in nearly empty bucket, but nonetheless it was a drop more of hope he had then before.

Semper smiled, "great! Hey, if he wants to kill his own troops I say we let him." It was a moment of good news for him. This actually made his job easier, rather than trying to defeat all of them himself. A dead Evil Human just meant that he got lucky. Semper moved forward, but as soon as he got into the hallway he froze. He felt the lingering madness wavelength and felt like he was instantly being slammed downwards to the ground. It was a simply show of his strong will that he didn't plummet to his knees and freeze. "Stay there," muttered Semper to the rest of the group. They barely heard him, but they managed to obey him, staying in the adjacent hallway.

Semper struggled back over to the hallway and finally felt his breath returning. "If its like this minutes after he left, what is it like when he was standing here?" Michael and Ash looked at each other and felt the momentary fear well up, but they shook their heads and managed a shrug.

Semper felt a brief flash of anger that they didn't warn him about it. That they let HIM be the guinea pig and test the waters while they stayed back. He was annoyed at the thought and leaned back against the wall trying to recover the little breath he had.

Mischa was tempted and didn't quite believe Semper's overzealous actions and took a step forward. She felt the pulling force on her foot as soon as it stepped into the hallway. Her eyes went wide as she yanked her foot back. She looked over at the rest of them. Michael and Ash shrugged, they had warned her to a certain degree, but Semper chuckled that he wasn't the only one that got such a harsh punishment. "I guess we'll just wait for the rest of the group...if they survive long enough to get here."

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><p>Oops! I uploaded this chapter yesterday, but I forgot to actually update the story. This actually happens a lot.<p> 


	49. Chapter 48 War versus Justice

**Justice Versus War**

Enma smiled as he finally felt Emilio tap on his shoulder and wake him up. Emilio was ready once again. He had finally caught his breath and was ready to start the mad destruction of the Evil Humans once again. Enma smiled and stood up. Emilio grasped onto Enma and Enma's body bunched up into a tight ball and then a long stick stuck out from it forming a hammer. Emilio felt the hammer once more.

Despite its bulky body it felt as light as a feather. One the benefits that one of the Death's Weapons have over regular weapons. Of course, since Enma was a Death Scythe the benefit seemed even larger and Emilio thought for a brief second he was lighter. He let out one of his tongueless chuckles.

"Pay attention!" commanded Enma. Emilio had a similar outlook as him. Their hatred for all things evil certainly seemed to supply them with superhuman drive, but it also led to them getting carried away and with Emilio's poor breathing abilities it was important that they didn't. "Remember fifteen minutes is our maximum do not exceed the maximum!"

Emilio sighed and rolled his head to the side. He felt like he was child being scolded, but nonetheless it was sound advice whether you were a child, an adult, or Lord Death. He nodded slowly as he took another deep breath and closed his eyes. Emilio's eyes shot open as he scanned the area for Souls. He frowned just like before Vigrid's disastrous blood-soaked soul coated the entire area leaving his soul perception dried up and useless.

Emilio began to take a step forward and down towards the base when he felt it. A brief blip changed and his Soul Wavelength seemed bent for a split second. Emilio was about to pay it no heed and say it was just a slight miss-perception that came from only recently recovering, but he froze as he realized that it never happened before. Something had definitely happened, he paused as he tried to figure it out. It took a couple seconds to register the only thing that could've caused it. Emilio swung around, swinging his large hammer around and at whatever was standing behind him. What was standing behind him was Vigrid.

"Look what I found. I thought I had sensed the feeling of a Death Scythe on the outside," said Vigrid as he smiled. He had used his large blade to block the hammer blow and he pushed it aside and took another step back to distance them a little bit more. "I thought you had already waged an attack on my base, but by the time I finally decided to do something about it you withdrew. I wondered what happened and why they decided to withdraw after only fifteen minutes of fighting...I thought it may just be because that's all you came here for...a brief weakening of my forces, but no...Lord Death isn't so cheap."

"Emilio!" shouted Enma, "we can't hold back! Fifteen minutes remember, for those fifteen minutes let's go full blast!" Emilio grunted in agreement. "SOUL RESONANCE!" shouted Enma with Emilio grunting along. For a brief moment they both began to glow. "Before I continue I should explain a little something about my unique Soul Resonance."

Vigrid felt a little annoyed that they had interrupted his banter and his verbal assault on their cowardice, but he decided it wasn't enough and shrugged. "Go ahead," he said, actually a little eager for this fight. Another good warm-up for his fight with Lord Death.

Emilio held Enma straight up into the air as Enma resumed talking, "First off, I should explain it that I am a messenger of a unique brand of justice. I'm also the judge, jury, and executioner of said form of justice. To start with I pass a series of laws that must be met..."

"And if I decline to meet these laws, what happens?" asked Vigrid with a mocking tone in his voice. "Do I go to jail?"

"Hmm...I guess I wasn't clear. These 'laws' I pass don't just mean you have to meet them during this fight, but throughout your entire life," said Enma. Vigrid felt his neck prick up at the words. He felt a little bit more interested and decided that mocking him was disrespectful so he kept his mouth shut. "The first law I ever passed was to disobey Lord Death's wishes...you have been found guilty on sixteen separate accounts!" Vigrid chuckled for a moment, before he noticed a change in the large hammer Emilio was holding. It had grew.

Vigrid paused as he looked at it. "It seems you noticed the consequence of disobeying my laws," said Enma as his reflection in the hammer smiled at Vigrid. "I'll admit that sixteen accounts isn't that big of deal especially considering your long life, but nonetheless the diameter of my hammer grew sixteen inches. Emilio nodded. "That's the first law, though, I still have two laws remaining. The second law is thievery, which lucky you...you are found guilty of on zero accounts." Vigrid chuckled as the hammer remained its current size, making it no more dangerous then a regular weapon.

"The third and final law is inflicting harm to any other innocent living being!" said Enma. Vigrid paused for awhile. He had been partaking in war for over 5000 years, of course blood had been shed and it was difficult to say how many of those brutish lives had been slightly innocent. He paused as Enma continued, "you are found guilt on 7,343 accounts!" Vigrid paused for a second as he looked over at the weapon that Emilio held. It grew.

The sixteen inches it had gained from Vigrid's disregard for Lord Death's authority didn't seem to matter anymore as the hammer inflated even more. The sixteen accounts for ignoring Lord Death's orders had made it grow sixteen inches. The 7,343 accounts of killing should have made it grow 7,343 inches, but Emilio and Enma restricted it. That size would've been overkill. Vigrid's blade was originally probably the largest weapon on earth being over seven feet long, but it paled in comparison to the weapon Emilio wielded. A hammer that spanned over 20 feet in diameter.

With one almighty swing Emilio brought the humungous weapon down directly at Vigrid. Vigrid brought his weapon up and held it up above his head. He felt the force of the hammer swing down and into the sword. Vigrid was forced down and into the ground. He still felt the force as the weapon's increased size and weight made it that much tougher. Emilio lifted it back up with ease. Vigrid stood there for a few moments as he looked up at Emilio. Emilio smiled as he twisted his body around and sent the hammer swinging around horizontally at Vigrid.

Vigrid braced himself. He slammed the sword into the ground and used it to brace himself further. He buffed up his body and made a quick movement with his hand, but none of that proved helpful as he was still blown back from the insane weapon's strength. Emilio chuckled. "Nice job," said Enma as his reflection looked up at Vigrid, "you shot a madness wavelength at the point of impact. You slammed the top of the mallet and not only cut the momentum, but also screwed up my hit point so instead of hitting you dead center the mallet was tilted."

Vigrid smiled. "Here I thought the only person worth my time would be Lor...no, not Lord Death," said Vigrid as he shook his head. "Just Death." He turned his head back to the base as he sensed another slight disturbance, but he shook his head and ignored it. His plan had hit a major turning point. One Death Scythe was locked up and in a few moments, a second Death Scythe would be defeated here leaving Death City in very terrible care. He'd finish this fight quickly and be on his way to launch a one-man siege on the DWMA.

Vigrid lifted his sword up into the air and gathered energy to the tip. He brought it down with all of his strength. The blade buried itself into the ground, gouging out the desert leaving a new valley in the ground, except for one spot that was blocked due to the large hammer. Emilio drew the hammer back and waited for Enma's response. Enma coughed and shook his head, "I'm good. No more need to hold back...just go Emilio. Even if we accomplish nothing else, we'll shatter his sword!"

Emilio charged flying up into the air. He swung the hammer upwards and into the air. Vigrid twisted his body and blocked the upwards smash with his sword. Vigrid was knocked upwards and into the air. When he opened his eyes and recovered from the smash, he noticed that Emilio was already on level ground with him. Emilio brought the hammer straight back down on top of Vigrid.

Vigrid felt something as the lights all around him disappeared into thick blackness. He felt actually kind of excited. He swung his blade upwards and into the hammer. He didn't have the power to knock it aside, but nonetheless he didn't manage to slow it down and make the swing nothing too extreme. Vigrid landed once more on the ground as he looked up at Emilio and Enma, already barreling towards him. If nothing else, their weapon had an extreme size and so it had a naturally huge offensive power as well. Vigrid had always prized himself on his own strength...it looks like this was an excellent test.

"That weapon is extremely annoying," said Vigrid as he took another step forward. "You mentioned that you wanted to destroy my weapon..." Vigrid lifted his sword up and into the air. "Well, I think if you have such an extreme desire to do so, you should at least know how it was forged. I think even you would know of the name, Hiroshima?"

Enma chuckled. "Hiroshima? You're kidding right? There's very few people on this world who don't know that place. Its the place that truly shows humans at their all time worse. Its the place where the Nuclear Bomb was dropped. It decimated the entire civilization." Enma didn't mind taking a couple of minutes to sit around and talk. Emilio was already starting to put on unnecessary strains from the assault on Vigrid and wading through his Madness Wavelength probably took a lot more considerable strength then destroying the entire Evil Human base. Emilio sighed his response.

"Exactly the entire land was devastated, all things resembling life was destroyed...all of it gone in the two seconds it would take to say 'I'm sorry'," Vigrid said with a depressed laugh. "That's where this sword came from. When that bomb went all the minerals in the ground were turned to liquids...days later when they hardened, they hardened into basically a chunk of super-weapon ore. I'm sure you heard about how 'strong fire forges strong weapons' or something along those lines, well what fire is stronger then that of a nuclear bomb?"

"If that's the case then I'm afraid that weapon does you a fat lot of good," stated Enma as his reflection glared down at Vigrid. "That weapon of yours was forged in an instant of destruction...Well, I've grown up in that same world. I'm sorry, but your weapon was forged in the two seconds it took to say 'I'm sorry'...I grew up and I was 'forged' in 30 years in that same destruction! I think that means that as far as weapons go, we've got the upper-hand."

Vigrid chuckled. "I'm still amazed at the simple stupidity of humans. This weapon was made by the greatest weapon you humans have ever made. That weapon that you designed to end all weapons, will lead to the end of all humanity and it starts with me cutting you down."

* * *

><p>Okay, 7,343 (no significance to the number) inches comes out to be about 611 feet. One story tall buildings are generally said to be about 10 feet (I think) so Enma's hammer should have grown to be equal to a 61 story tall building...yeah...not happening. I had to limit it, I figured a 2 story tall hammer wasn't that big of a deal this is a manga after all.<p>

I am going back to school soon so I will be slowing down my postings...I am sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you, but remember I write a lot of chapters and keeping up with three chapters a week, 6 hour school days, and (hopefully) a job will be difficult. So, expect my updates to slow back down to once every two weeks.


	50. Chapter 49 Final Clash of the Titanic

**The Final Clash of the Titanic Weapons!**

Vigrid hefted his large weapon around. He made a practice swing through the air and pointed the sharp blade over at Emilio and Enma, "It starts with me cutting you down," repeated Vigrid. He lit loose a fresh wave of his madness wavelength that crept through the air. Vigrid slowly started to spin the large blade around, the rotating blade combined both defense and offense. It allowed Vigrid to pick up speed and use the newly increased speed to deliver devastating blows while at the same time the spinning blade made it hard to get in close as it may just chop an arm off.

Emilio paused for a second as he watched Vigrid. He was still pretty close to depleted their little conversation only afforded him a minute or two of rest, he still needed another to or three until he was running on a full tank. Well, you don't always get what you want. Emilio let out a groan to let Enma know. Enma frowned in the reflection of the hammer, but he knew that they didn't have the time to let Emilio reach full energy. Then again so far Vigrid has taken several devastating hits if they were to retreat Vigrid would also recover.

Emilio didn't need for Enma to tell him, he had arrived at the same conclusion and dashed forward. Vigrid lifted his arm up and with a swing of his sword he fired off his madness wavelength in the form of small condensed bullets. Emilio brought the large hammer around and blocked the shots using the head of the hammer as a shield. The large hammer blocked Emilio's view of Vigrid, but that didn't matter as soon as Vigrid took his first step forward Enma shouted, "watch out! He's coming!"

Emilio nodded and swung the hammer forward. With the sheer size of the hammer taking aim wasn't necessary. Vigrid chuckled as he fired another blast of his madness wavelength forward at the bottom of the hammer. It tilted the hammer off-center and with one final swing from his own sword Vigrid managed to knock the large weapon up and into the air. Emilio's arms were thrown up with it. Vigrid smiled as he charged into the opening he had created, intent on delivering the finishing blow right here and now.

Suddenly he felt a tight tug on the necklace that hung around his neck. He twisted his head back to see an arm had sprouted from the hammer and grabbed a hold of his necklace. Enma yanked him back using his own brute strength. Vigrid muttered something under his breath as he looked up at the weapon. He had forgotten that the weapon was a human and could do something independent from the will of the meister. Even if the meister was stunned long enough for him to race in and take him down the weapon could still stop him. He was still fighting two people. He'd just have to mow them both down.

Vigrid moved back as he noticed that Emilio had recovered from the shock of having his hammer knocked aside. He had the growing premonition that these two were actually worth his full power. He thought that it was just some kind of paranoia after hearing about Marburg's loss and figured it was wrong. Looks like it may have just been right. Vigrid kicked off of the ground, using his immense leg muscles to send him flying forward. He was in front of Emilio in seconds.

He brought his large sword forward with a frightening swing. Emilio managed to block it with his hammer, but he still felt the strength shudder into his arm and he worried that Vigrid may have broken his arm even through the block. He didn't have much time to worry though as Vigrid sneaked his leg up and slammed it into Emilio's unguarded side. Emilio's eyes widened and he let out a gargled scream. Vigrid smiled, he shifted the sword to his shoulder and held onto it using only his right arm, freeing his left arm to fire a powerful straight at Emilio's head.

Emilio was stunned for a few seconds as he tried to make sense of the all over throbbing pain. His arms felt like they had been shattered, he knew he had at least one broken rib, and now his head was throbbing due to the punch. He had taken much worse blows from hammers, gauntlets, swords, but these three successive blows was forcing him backwards.

"SNAP OUT OF IT!" shouted Enma. Emilio's head snapped back up, mostly out of reflex from hearing Enma's voice. He saw Vigrid was already in mid-swing of his next punch. Emilio quickly slammed Enma into the ground. Emilio smiled, controlling the shape of the weapon is fairly simple for a Death Scythe. He lengthened Enma's handle and due to the fact that Enma had been slammed into the ground the massive hammer end of the weapon wasn't moving, so Emilio was pushed to the side avoiding Vigrid's next blow. Vigrid's immense strength sent him swinging forward and into the mallet's handle.

Vigrid turned around to face Emilio. Emilio quickly shortened the weapon's handle, bringing the large weapon back and slamming into Vigrid. Emilio immediately followed it up by jabbing his open palm into Vigrid's gut and sending a Soul Wavelength into his body. Vigrid grimaced as he felt the shock shudder in through him.

Vigrid ignored the stinging pain in his stomach and brought his elbow downwards and Emilio's head. Emilio swayed backwards surprised at Vigrid's tenacity, most people would've taken the Soul Wavelength as a cue to back-off and regroup, but Vigrid stayed close in to Emilio and actually used another swing! It was quite impressive that Vigrid was capable of fighting this well both with and without his weapon. Emilio lifted Enma back up into the air and swung him back down as a warning to get Vigrid to back off of him. Vigrid ignored it. Instead he charged in father once more firing off a Madness Wavelength to screw up the massive weapon's aim, with another slam of his sword Vigrid completely neutralized the large weapon's swing.

"Crap!" muttered Enma as he looked back down at Emilio who was already desperately trying to back away from the raging animal that was Vigrid. However it was fruitless. Vigrid brought the large sword swinging back around at Emilio's side. Emilio managed to block it once more with his weapon's handle, but like before he still felt Vigrid's full power reverberate through his arm. Emilio stumbled back feeling the damage building up in his body. Vigrid let loose a bestial roar of pleasure at the sight as he stepped in once more and brought the sword down with frightening speed. Enma brought his hand out of the hammer once more and used it to push the sword to one side while Emilio dodged to the other.

Vigrid's sword slammed into the ground with an insane amount of power. He ripped the sword out of the ground, sending chunks of rock and dead plant life flying about and into the air. He turned around and faced Emilio, swinging his sword into the air with the same power and determination as before. It was obvious it was going to miss, but Vigrid was still going at full-power regardless. It was either that Vigrid was trying to scare Emilio away with an insane swing or he just didn't care. He didn't care if he wasted energy on huge swings that were bound to miss, he was just going to keep on swinging.

The first one still held true though. Emilio held back as he watched Vigrid bring the blade back up and onto his shoulders to prepare for the next overpowered swing of his. Vigrid stepped forward and prepared another swing. Emilio charged through extending his hammer as he ran at Vigrid, leaving the large hammer head behind while keeping a hold on the handle. Emilio brought his fist into Vigrid and once more shot a Soul Wavelength into his body. Vigrid didn't flinch as he brought the sword down and at Emilio's head. Emilio brought the hammer's head back to him and into Vigrid pushing him back.

Vigrid quickly regained his ground and brought the sword swinging back at Emilio. Emilio ducked beneath, only dodging it by a hair, he charged forward preparing for another Soul Wavelength. Vigrid didn't allow him to get in close as soon as Emilio had ducked forward, Vigrid bent his arm and sent his elbow downwards and into his back. Emilio was pushed downwards and off balance, Vigrid swung his free hand around and landed a devastating hook to Emilio's face. Emilio was flung back, stumbling over the ground as he tried to stay standing.

Vigrid felt no compassion for his stumbling opponent and moved in with his sword, preparing to end the fight with one almighty downwards swing. Emilio struggled to bring Enma back over him to protect him from Vigrid's harsh downwards blow. Luckily, he managed to drape the large hammer's handle over his chest, but the force from Vigrid's downwards slash still slammed into Emilio pushing the air out of his lungs.

"Shit!" cursed Enma as he looked down at his partner. Emilio had terrible lungs to begin with, but now due to Vigrid's attack. He's probably next to useless. They had been fighting longer then Emilio should've been able to as well, Emilio had been pushed past his limits and then that last attack from Vigrid was another push further away from them. Emilio was out of luck.

"Once I'm finished with you I'll head to the DWMA and destroy it," laughed Vigrid. "Lord Death made a grave error he separated his forces to easily! I have one Death Scythe captured and another one beaten! What's left at the DWMA? Students and teachers who are without a doubt having trouble with the measly Evil Humans I have sent there. They are worn down while I still have a few more minutes to rest until I destroy it! This is my win!"

"What do you mean you captured a Death Scythe!" shouted Enma from his hammer, "there's no way a Death Scythe would be captured by the likes of you!"

"That's right," said Vigrid as he lifted his large foot up and stomped it down on top of the weapon, pinning both Enma and Emilio to the ground. "I captured a Death Scythe. The elite of the elite up at the DWMA has been brought down. Not just one, but two! My strategy spelled the end for two of the elites that Lord Death pinned so much hope on! For humans like you, you must see the truth now, right? Its what you humans do whenever there's a disagreement you fight and the one left standing is right! Look! I'm still standing! The end of the human race is right!"

Enma gritted his teeth. He didn't want to admit that Vigrid was even kind-of right, but he wasn't too far wrong. If Vigrid eliminated the other Death Scythes like he eliminated them, the end of the human race was right around the corner...but they still had one Death Scythe left, one hope remaining. It seemed foolish and stupid to bet all their hopes on one person, but right now that was probably their only chance.

(-at the DWMA-)

"Hmmm...I guess I'm alright with it. We are kind of with our backs to the wall as it currently stands. You also have a clean bill of health, so I guess I'll allow it for the time being. Be careful though, we don't want any causalities out there," said Lord Death as he talked to the meister before him.

The man smiled as he stood up, slamming his hands down onto the table. "I can guarantee you there will be causalities...but not for our side!" The man was Saul.

* * *

><p>I really wasn't going to post this weekend. Too much other crap going on, but it looks like next weekend will be even worse...urgh...so here's your dose of 'Unsound Body'.<p>

Saul is back up and ready to fight, but it looks like Emilio and Enma are down for the count.


	51. Chapter 50 On the Home Front

**On the Home Front**

"Are you sure Saul?" said Lord Death, "while I appreciate having someone with your expertise and experience on the battle field, I'm afraid this is pushing it. The doctor said it herself, you should have another two weeks till you are fully recovered."

"Heck, are you kidding me?" laughed Saul as he pounded on the table once more. "What am I supposed to do? Sleep with this kind of racket going on around me? Not happening! I'll just go out there and make a ruckus, wipe the floor with those bastards and then I'll return back to my bed. Until then...I got my own version of pain-killers." Saul lifted a bottle of alcohol into the air and took a quick drink. "So, am I in?  
>Lord Death was concerned, but he nodded his head anyways. He wasn't happy about having an injured man on the field, a drunk, injured man no less, but desperate times called for desperate measures. And these were definitely desperate times. Luckily, the school remained untouched and the Evil Human forces had been forced back whenever they drove near. But if they did get close Lord Death would deal with them. Especially since Lord Death had been confined to the school grounds. If someone really needed him or something of the sort then he needed to be at place where they can find him, namely his office.<p>

So, Lord Death had been confined to one room while the rest of the school was at war with Evil Humans. News still came up to Lord Death and he had been keeping track of everything that had happened. Despite the fact that they were at war, with no idea how long it would last, BUT they were lucky. So, far they had 0 causalities and a surprisingly small number of injuries. However, that didn't mean all too much. Lord Death's head kept going back to the the message he got from Elena Foxx.

One of his students was kidnapped and taken. No doubt it was to be for a hostage exchange...it gave Vigrid a whole lot of leverage. If it came down to it, that one piece of leverage Vigrid got could easily turn the war back around and into his favor. It pained Lord Death to send Enma and Emilio out to stop him and rescue her along with her foolish friends, but it had to be done. Best case scenario would be if it all happened before Vigrid found out, but that scenario only had about one in one million chance. Lord Death would have to be ready to fight...with or without his Death Scythe.

He had asked all of them to withdraw momentarily, believing that it would temporarily boost their strength and help them achieve victory hopefully after that they would be able to talk Vigrid into calling off his crazy war. However, only two of them said they would make it. One of them was Enma and the second one still hadn't shown up. Lord Death understood that she had a certain animosity towards them, but he never thought that she would purposely try to sabotage them! Maybe the rumors about Myrrh Furlough were true...

Lord Death shook his head as he tried to remain focused on the war, something else was up. He had an increasingly bad feeling. He tried to shake it off and remain focused on the war, but something else kept bubbling up that made feel uneasy. A shaky feeling...first there was the kidnapping of one of his students, then the unexplained tardiness of a Death Scythe...it seemed like something terrible was on the verge of happening.

(-in the city-)

"My bones and muscles are aching for a fight!" shouted Saul as he landed on the hard concrete streets and charged through. Rochelle's trusty boomerang form was in his hand. He swung her forward and sent her flying at one of the Evil Humans. It barely had time to turn its head towards it before the large boomerang whacked it down and to the ground. Saul capitalized on the opportunity by jumping on top of it and firing a powerful punch into its face. Saul quickly jumped back up and grabbed a hold of Rochelle.

Even though Saul's body was still stiff from his near coma-like slumber, this was still a fairly easy exercise for him. Rochelle was not only a Death Scythe, but a long-ranged weapon while normally that fact and the fact that Saul was a close-ranged fighter would annoy him, but this time he was grateful for it. The Evil Humans barely knew what was coming before the boomerang hit and even if they did they would still be cut down fairly easily.

Dodging the first blow of the boomerang isn't anything to be proud of, but the second blow was where the danger was. The boomerang was attacking from the back while Saul would be attacking from the front. A two-pronged attack that overwhelmed most Evil Humans...whatever side they ignored would defeat them. Rochelle's ability to control her flight whilst a boomerang only aided in that fact. The special boomerang was faster then most humans, especially with Saul's powerful arms throwing it. With those two combined she could easily achieve speeds of up to 90 miles per hour. Enough to behead almost anyone who disagreed with Lord Death.

Another Evil Human entered Saul's sight. He tossed Rochelle at it. Rochelle's lean and sleek boomerang body came whirring at it. The thin edge came slicing straight through the Evil Human's arms. Saul was next, he was in front of the Evil Humans in seconds. He thrust his two arms forward firing one powerful burst of Soul Wavelength into the Evil Human. The Evil Human collapsed and exploded, leaving in its place a small red Kishin Egg.

Saul backed up and took a half step back. He twisted his head to the skies for a moment. He had a slightly higher then average Soul Perception, not great, but far from being bad. His view was clouded with all the Souls of the Evil Humans who had been slain and all of the students who were running about in a panic, but he could still sense something else. Something big. "Rochelle, these muscles of mine are really aching for a good fight." He dashed off, charging through the streets and at his opponent.

(-In the apartment complex-)

"Where now, Clare?" asked Quill as he swiveled his head left-to-right trying to discern the locations of the Evil Humans despite being blind. Clare responded with a quick 'left'. Quill nodded, spinning around and slicing the pink blade through the Evil Human's chest. He pulled it out and listened for Clare's next command.

"Quill, left again approximately four feet away!" shouted Clare. Quill nodded, he let loose the iron ball that was attached to his claymore-esque sword. The ball smashed into one of the Evil Human's head and knocked it backwards. "Its dazed, but still standing!" Quill nodded and drove forward he brought his sword up and to his chest, he made a quick thrust with the weapon driving it into the Evil Human's abdomen. With a quick twist, he ripped the sword from the Evil Human's chest and turned back around, preparing to move onto his next target.

"Anyone left?" asked Quill as he twisted his entire body around several times. If Clare said to attack, he would strike out without any hesitation. His ears twitched as he heard a faint footstep behind him, he pivoted around and prepared to bring Clare down, but Clare's voice cut through the air.

"Its a student!" she shouted. He voice filled with dread and seriousness, forcing Quill to slow his swing down and bring the blade back to his side. Quill was breathing heavily for a second as he tried to calm himself back down, he had lost himself momentarily in the heat of the battle and he almost paid deeply for it. If he could've seen the poor student he was sure he would've stopped sooner, but the most he could hope for now was that he stopped in time.

"Its okay Quill, she's okay," replied Clare lifting the heavy burden from Quill's shoulder. Quill nodded. He felt as if he should stop and apologize to the poor student, but they were at war. A moment of rest or stopping would probably lead to his own demise. Especially now...he could feel it...a growing sense of dread that was in the air.

Without his sight he had an extremely heightened Soul Perception, but he didn't see it. It was more like the air became charged in the direction of Evil Humans. A constant shock from the air when an Evil Human was near and now his entire body was being electrocuted. His entire attention was focused in one direction. His grip on Clare tightened, turning his knuckles white. "Clare, its going to get difficult from here on out...you ready?"

"Bring it," said Clare with what sounded like feigned confidence. A slight quiver in her voice was evident, but with the shaky and electrocuted air around them anything less would mean that the person was stupid and reckless. They should have a moment of dread, a moment in which they weigh their options and their chances, but it was the mark of true warrior that they decided to head in anyways. Quill nodded, mostly to reassure her rather then to show his agreement. He leapt up to the top of the building, preparing for the inevitable clash with the titan.

(-With Michael and the rest-)

Michael had collapsed onto the floor. They had run into a surprisingly little amount of Evil Humans since getting to the prison and they had just been sitting there. They weren't quite sure of why they had been sitting there rather then making a move, the shock of Vigrid passing by still hadn't quite worn off, but they still knew that time was of the essence. That they should rush forward and free May and get out quickly.

Their thoughts shifted quickly between May and Vigrid. Every so often they would think about Melody and the rest of their group that had gone missing for the time being. They simply remained sitting on the ground, waiting for something close to a sign that shakes them out of their funk and gets them moving again, but they seemed to be missing that moment. They remained on the ground waiting for the necessary shock of the moment. They were stuck here still in awe of Vigrid, they needed the necessary motivation to make them move forward.

"MICHAEL! ASH!" shouted Melody as she rushed forward up to them from around the corner. Helena and Bridget followed behind her.

* * *

><p>...I could've sworn my computer said this chapter was 2000 words long...I think it shrinks whenever I post it.<p> 


	52. Chapter 51 Into the Prison

**Into the Prison!**

**The Three Evil Humans?**

"Finally, some actually good looking girls," grumbled Xander as Bridget, Melody, and Helena finally caught up to them. The crew looked over at Mischa, the only other female meister that was with them at the moment.

"I'm fine with that. If anything its a compliment to me," said Mischa as she brushed her long purple hair out of her eyes. The gang took a few more seconds to stare at her in disbelief and try to figure out what she meant by that. The girls tried to figure out whether or not it was an insult.

"Now that we are all here, let's go get May!" commanded Michael. He paused as he looked back on them. Despite them all being together, it was clear that none of them were on the same page. Semper looked rather uninterested in the mission and clearly more interested in returning home and Mischa wanted to get going and seemed rather impatient. His eyes drifted over to Melody and her group.

Her eyes were ready for the fight, but her body obviously wasn't. She was using a makeshift walking stick and splint and she was drooped down low, obviously exhausted from all the problems they had encountered while on this mission. Bridget had an unbridled enthusiasm as well as the physical state to back it up, but she had some sort of cockiness to it. She looked like she thought the rest of the group was holding her back and right now Michael didn't blame her. Helena was the worse so far in terms of enthusiasm, she may be in better shape then Melody, but she looked like she was exhausted. Despite just catching up to them for a few minutes, she was sitting on the ground with an expression of half sleep and half bored.

That left just him and Ash. Ash didn't seem to be in a very great state. He had fought for a long time just to make sure they got here in time and the fatigue was showing. Not to mention their close run-in with Vigrid was obviously wearing down on him. The sudden mental shock of Vigrid's Madness Wavelength probably destroyed the hardened mentality and the rush of adrenaline he had from charging through the base and killing the large horde of Evil Humans.

The only person left in question was Michael. Luckily, his artificial body didn't quite feel fatigue, but like all machines too much activity in such short time wasn't good for their components. He pushed his weight forward and onto one foot and immediately noticed the difference. His body was far from its optimum processing. He had been doing a lot of close combat lately too, something his body and mind weren't used to. The stress from it was showing.

The thought had been weighing on him ever since they heard the news about May's execution. Would Vigrid just let that information leak? It seemed fairly important and he didn't think Vigrid was stupid...Lord Death seemed to hold him in high regards, so he should too. If that was the case this could be a trap. It made sense. Get them heated up over the news, make them rush in recklessly and then boom! Deal with them all at once...if that was the case they'd need all the energy they could muster...buuuttttt...Vigrid was gone. If they waited and passed up this opportunity of Vigrid's absence from the prison they would be the stupid ones, especially if there wasn't a trap.

"Come on!" shouted Bridget at Michael, snapping him out of his thought process. "We came here to save May and unless I'm missing some brilliant plan standing here and doing nothing isn't saving her!"

Michael looked at the rest of the group and they all nodded in agreement. They moved forward towards the prison cell and pressed it open. As soon as the door was halfway open there was a brilliant flash of white light. The group backed up, stumbling over their own feet as they closed their eyes and threw their hands in front of their faces to block the light. Michael flinched as he heard something slam into the ground with a thud, followed by a scream from Helena. She must've been knocked down. He tried to regain his senses, but couldn't as another thud was heard and another as his teammates slowly began to be taken down and knocked to the floor.

Michael had just barely recovered in time to see a red blur run into him. Michael hit the ground with an even louder thud then the others. "Crap," he heard a voice hiss, "it looks like we got wrong information. I heard about three kids running about and making a mess, but I count seven! What the hell, Vigrid, lousy information network...I guess some Evil Humans just can't count all too well."

Michael tried to stumble around and stand up again, but then he heard something else, a low buzz. He tried to place where he had heard it before, but couldn't as he lost his footing and fell back down to the ground. He didn't remember being hit, but then again his feeling of pain was greatly dulled. "What's happening who are you?"

"'Who are you?' he asks," mocked a voice. A second slightly chipper voice chimed in, "should we tell him? Huh, huh, huh, should we tell him?" The original voice the one that talked about the information network hissed back, "he's just a lowly human. He doesn't deserve to hear about us!"

Michael paused for a second as he thought about it. There were three voices...they said they had only heard about three intruders. Vigrid put them here in order to trap them. The flash of light only helped to further aid that. Once knocked down they could easily take them down as long as they stayed standing. They needed to stand-up too if they wanted a fighting chance. Michael struggled to his feet, his vision still hadn't returned, but he saw two familiar blobs, that he assumed were Bridget and Mischa, also trying to stand, but once more he was knocked down. Something was wrong though, the way he was knocked down was weird. He didn't feel any pressure or power being blown into him, its more like he just lost his footing.

"They are still trying! Look at the little cute meisters," said the mocking voice, this time with the same annoying tone you would use with a baby or puppy.

"Ooh, yes, yes, yes!" chimed the last voice again. "They are still trying! I say we finish them here and now! No reason to wait, no, no, no!"

"Quiet you two!" hissed the voice. "Don't you know anything? Vigrid wants us to capture them! They could become valuable bargaining chips later on! We should just separate them...put the weapons in one room away from the meisters! With them we'll have fourteen hostages! There's no way Lord Death would let that many students die, he'd have to admit to some form of exchange!"

Michael blinked as his vision started to return. The blobs that were his friends had gradually returned to regular humans with arms and limbs. They were still blurry, but he was capable of telling them apart through the colors of their clothing or hair. There didn't seem to be anything severe about them from what he could tell there was no blood or missing limbs. He just needed to focus on the Evil Humans for now.

He brought his attention forward. He was immediately taken back, he tightened his guard and swiveled his head from side-to-side. Was he losing it? He could've sworn he had heard at least three voices, but in front of him was only one man. The man was slender and was wearing a bright red skin-tight jumpsuit. His face was hidden by a mask with three separate holes for eyes, but there was only a light behind one of them. His hair was similar to Mischa's, but rather then just two colors it had three. He had a short blonde on the left, the hair in the middle was long and a fiery red while the one of the far right was black and kind of scraggly.

"I thought I heard three voices," questioned Melody beating Michael to the punch. Michael nodded as did a few of the other students.

"Its just him!" shouted a fourth voice. The gang swerved their head over to the side. It was May! She looked a little bit worse for the wear with a couple of bruises and whelps, most of which seemed recent, but other then that she seemed to be in good enough shape. "He's been there talking to himself all this time! He's freaking insane!"

"MAY!" shouted the crew as they noticed her. They all tried to get up, they succeeded, but as soon as they took one step, they all collapsed back down to the ground, their feet getting tangled up as they moved. They all thudded to the ground. They paused and checked their feet and legs as they tried to figure out what happened. They shouldn't have fell.

The mask on the Evil Human moved slightly. The single lit-up eye rotated around to another hole, lighting it up. "Why? Why do you choose to insult us so," chimed the last voice with a slightly depressed tone. "Why do you monkeys call us insane?"

The small lit-up eyes moved to yet another hole. "Its cause they are jealous! Jealous of how awesome we are! We the three brothers who murdered over 21 people! The DWMA never got wind of our antics and we were able to do whatever we wanted to our poor victims! We are the Triple Killers!"

The name registered briefly in Michael's head. "I heard about you! There was a case awhile back in some small town about a killer. I don't know the specifics, but the rumors said that what would happen is there would be no action for awhile and then three bodies would show up beheaded in the town's cemetery."

"That's right," said the Evil Human, with its cruel hissing voice, as the third hole in his mask lit up brightly. "My brothers and I all have our own unique tastes, but we do everything together, so it became hard to kill. We needed to abduct three women, one for each of us, and then we killed them together! Just like a family should!"

"Pretty messed up family if you ask me," mocked Xander. "Couldn't you just play a video game together or something? I can suggest a couple if you want." Melody quickly slapped him aside the head. They still weren't on their feet, so it was a very light tap, but it still got Xander's attention.

"You, uh, haven't put it together yet, have you?" asked Melody. Xander looked over and glared at her. Melody shook her head and went on to explain. "There's only one Evil Human here, not three brothers. And I never heard of three people fusing together before, have you?"

"Only in anime," responded Xander with quick quip.

"Urgh...anime aside, humans don't fuse together. If I remember they said the Triple Killers...the main suspect was three brothers that lived on the outside of the town...however, when they went there to arrest them they found two dead bodies," said Melody. "The police assumed that those two chickened out and wanted to quit with killing and the third one didn't want them to, afraid they were going to turn him in, he killed them."

"I didn't kill them!" shouted the Evil Human with his hissing voice. "I didn't kill my brothers!" The light switched to the other one. "He didn't kill us," he chimed. "Its just the stinking cops' side of the story. There's no way he'd do that! He's our big brother."

"Yup..." muttered Xander, "he's insane."

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><p>First off, there is no such thing as the Triple Killers...at least I don't think. If there is I really am psychic! I shall use these powers for evil and not good!<p>

Also, I plan on switching my profile pic later on this week! Good idea?


	53. Chapter 52 Close Call

**Close Calls!**

The Evil Human was still standing in front of them. The group were still stuck on the ground. Whenever one of them tried standing they immediately stumbled one or two feet forward only to collapse to the ground for some reason. Michael paused as he tried to figure out what was happening, the rest of the group was keeping the Evil Human busy.

"I didn't kill them!" screamed the Evil Human. "I was the perfect older brother! When mother and father died, who took care of them? I did! We slowly became twisted together...we were all serial killers together in the end! We remained together forever! They never died! They stayed together with me forever! They will never leave me!"

"I think insane may just be an understatement for them," said Shi. Melody chuckled at the irony that even Shi thought that they were insane as well. It was kind of funny in that aspect. Melody moved and tried to stand-up but once more her feet seemed incapable of staying up. She collapsed back to the ground.

Michael looked around them. They fact that they were having trouble standing definitely wasn't right, their balance must've been thrown off. He ran his hands across the ground, double checking it. He thought that it might have been slanted and that caused them to slip or something, but it was smooth. He still couldn't put it together.

"I count 6 people," chimed the Evil Human. "That means two for each...and one left over, but we each get to kill two people! I want the ugly girls!" He said pointing at Melody and Mischa. Melody's hair flared up at the insult, becoming incredibly irritated. In an instant she quickly lashed out with Shi, sending the small yo-yo flying at him. The Kishin's body blurred to the side and the yo-yo harmlessly flew past him without even touching him. "Ooh, she's feisty! I really want that one!"

"I wanted her, too!" said the Evil Human as the small light behind its mask moved to another eye. "Oh, well, I'll just move onto the my next choice, the other two girls...maybe I can have some fun with them." The Evil Human took a step forward. He was instantly held off by a quick flurry of papers as Eva opened up sending several pages scorching towards him. The Evil Human chuckled and stepped back, letting loose a quiet growl.

"Hey, guys," hissed the Evil Human slinking about from side-to-side, the light in his mask moved once more. He slowly began to take small steps forward, "how about a game? Whoever can kill the most of them gets a special prize! The prize is the other prisoner...how does that sound?" The Evil Human began to laugh and clap at his own ridiculous idea. "Let's finish them." He opened his hand, flashing his small silver claws in the lights.

The Evil Human dashed forward, choosing to attack Bridget first. Bridget brought her halberd up and in front of her. The Evil Human smashed his claws downwards and into the halberd. Sparks flew up from the clash of the two weapons. Bridget tried to swing her halberd back out as a counter-attack, but the Evil Human was gone just as quickly as he came, jumping back and out of her range.

He stumbled briefly in front of them. Ash tried to push himself back onto his feet and charge forward, swiping with his gauntlet, but he lost his footing again, falling back to the ground in front of the Evil Human. The Evil Human lifted his claw up and tried to drive it back down and at Ash's back. A quick flurry of paper came through all of them slicing at the Evil Human's arm, forcing him to withdraw his hand back and quickly escape the area of the swirling sheets.

"Why the hell can't I stay standing?" asked Ash pounding a hand into his own leg. He tried to stand-up, but quickly stumbled back to the ground. He cursed again quietly.

Michael looked around, checking everything around them. It looked like the rest of the group came to the same realization about not being able to stand, but it appeared that not a single one of them knew what was preventing them from standing. There wasn't anything in the room that looked out of order...it was fairly big for jail. A plain open room. The only furnishing was a couch and a table on one side, then a small radiator in the corner. The buzzing noise once more burned its way into his ear. That's when it hit him.

"A sonic weapon." It was half a statement and half a question, he was almost positive he was right, but he still wanted confirmation from the Evil Human. The Evil Human turned his attention over to Michael. "A sonic weapon is what's preventing us from standing...it ruins our inner ear and that completely ruins our sense of balance and throw us down whenever we try."

The Evil Human laughed, the hole in his mask randomly lighting up. "Smart boy...let me guess some military training? But that's right, we Evil Humans ordinarily wouldn't have resorted to such methods...hell, some of us didn't even know they existed, the ones that did were just incapable of getting their hands on it. But Vigrid! Vigrid got it for us! Our speed is already faster then most, but if our opponent is stuck wallowing around on the ground, we can run circles around them! Its a genius strategy and makes us three brothers almost impossible to defeat!"

"Thanks for the information," said Helena with a brief yawn, "Eva'll take care of it...where did they say it was again?"

"They didn't," muttered Semper as he looked around room trying to find it, "and I don't think they are all too keen to tell us where their saving grace is...after all once we find out where they have, we'll destroy it, and then beat them. That machine is the only reason why they themselves are still alive at this point." Semper smiled and looked at the Evil Human, hoping that he had succeeded in goading him into telling them.

The Evil Human just laughed. "A saving grace? Call it an equalizer, seven against three just isn't all that fair. The machine just makes us fight at equal ground." The group wanted to point out that it was seven against one, but that didn't seem to help their case so they kept their mouths shut. "Oh, yeah, before I forget! I still have to kill you!" He approached Ash and stuck out with his claws, Ash managed to block it with his gauntlet, but for the force managed to knock him down again and onto his back. The papers from Eva's book fluttered around Ash and forced the Evil Human to take his distance once more.

"Eva, Helena stay on the offensive!" shouted Michael, "Trust in us Meisters and weapons to defend ourselves as it currently stands you are the only ones that can hit him! Semper, Mischa, and Melody provide some defense for me. I need to make it to the cell and get May out if we can do that then we get another attacker on our side. Don't forget if anybody has a chance to secure the primary objective go for it!"

"Sounds like a pain...but I guess getting our butt whooped by these guys would only be more annoying...I'm in," said Helena.

"What do you know my thoughts exactly," replied Semper, flashing his brilliant vote-winning smile. "Our weapons should easily protect you, just don't slack off now."

"HEY! I don't like taking commands from someone else!" shouted Shark, Mischa's weapon, his reflection on the shark-shaped head of the whip flashed Michael his sharp teeth. "But I'll deal with it this one time."

"Got it," was Melody's only reply as she began sending the yo-yo through the air in random directions.

"Now for the finishing trick!" Michael sighed as he looked downwards and at his fist, "Ash a little help?" he asked pointing towards his own ears. Ash stood still for a little while longer, unsure of what he wanted finally he put it together.

"Are...are you sure?" Michael nodded without hesitation. Ash shrugged and leaned forward, smashing his sharp blade into Michael's ear. Ash flinched as he considered what it would've felt like luckily Michael's golem-like body had vastly reduced sense of feeling. However, he understood the reasoning. A sonic weapon is a weapon that uses sound, without ears Michael couldn't hear it and he could regain his balance. He stood up, a little shaky at first from being knocked down and his own ears being blown out. He finally got his own balance back and started off towards May.

"Thanks for the strategy!" shouted the Evil Human with its cackling laugh, "you gotta learn not to shout it out where anyone can hear it!" He charged for Michael, deciding to concentrate his fire on him. Almost instantly the papers from Eva's book began flying at him, all of them taking the shape of pointed paper airplanes. The Evil Human's sharp talons whipped through the air at them placing a hole into each one and swatting them to the ground. He continued heading towards Michael.

Melody sent her yo-yo sailing across the floor and at the Evil Human's legs while Mischa's sharp shark headed whip flew through the air at his chest. Semper kunai with chain was aimed at the Evil Human's arm hoping to temporarily render that arm useless. The Evil Human sprinted forward, throwing the timing of each blow off. He lifted his feet over the yo-yo, dodging beneath the whip and simultaneously going to the side of the kunai. He was then right in front of Michael, with a quick twist he brought his claws back around and into Michael's body. The claws penetrated into Michael's body, breaking through his rock-solid arm. Michael gritted his teeth and kept his ground, refusing to be forced backwards from the attack.

"I admire your will, kid!" shouted the Evil Human glaring Michael straight in the eye, "but even then I'm afraid you got to learn when the time to run is." Michael didn't respond, but it was due to the fact that he couldn't make out where the Evil Human said since his eardrum was busted open. The Evil Human didn't care. "Ooh...brother, we get to kill another one! We are so lucky!"

The Evil Human lifted his hand into the air as if to act on those words already. Papers immediately fluttered around him as if daring him to try and do such a reckless and dumb action. The Evil Human shrugged it off, deciding that murdering one of the students was definitely worth a paper cut. His claw flashed downwards, gleaming silver as it chopped downwards at Michael's head. Michael fell backwards, kicking his feet up into the air as he tried to slide beneath the wiry Evil Human. As soon as he hit the ground, the paper planes began flying in zooming towards their target. The Evil Human ignored them and continued his dive for Michael's neck.

The whips snapped their way for the Evil Human's body. All of them aiming for a human's tender spots like the nose, liver, and even the groin. The Evil Human swatted them away with his free hand, but kept his other hand trained for Michael's neck, he was determined to finish this off here and now. He wasn't in the mood for them to rally, it was soon going to be 6 to 3. He would have to apologize to his brothers for the first kill was his!

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><p>I am going to kill of my main character. Seriously, I will...just wait till next chapter.<p> 


	54. Chapter 53 Out and Free Again

**Out and Free Again!**

An arrow flew across the landscape and shot straight into the Evil Human's hand, sending a quick spurt of blood from it. The Evil Human let loose some bestial grunt as his hand recoiled to his side. He twisted his glare over at the cage, where May was standing proudly with her hands morphed into a miniature bow. She had fired a quick shot over at the Evil Human. She couldn't use any sort of killing blow since she was locked up away from any Meisters, but by herself she could still manage to send out small stunning arrows.

The Evil Human bent down and tossed a small pebble through the air. The pebble shot inwards at May and sadly she wasn't skilled enough to dodge it. It found its mark at her forehead and drew a small trickle of blood. However, May's determined look still didn't waver.

The small opening it created however was soon taken advantage of. Helena's and Eva's paper swirled around the Evil Human creating a hurricane of sheets. He looked around frantically his eyes wide with surprise. All of the sheet quickly began to move at once all of them shooting forward aiming for the Evil Human's body. He dodged forward, breaking free of the hurricane, but still suffering several small paper cuts all over his body. He groaned once more as he twisted his body around, gnashing his teeth as he saw the book wielder. "Yooouuuuu! How dare you bring harm to my brothers!" he screamed as he rushed forwards towards the young girls. He brought his claws forward smashing them towards Helena. She brought up her book and held it in front of her as if hoping the couple hundred sheets of paper would protect her. The Evil Human decided to put her theory to the test, he brought his razor sharp claws forward aiming for the book. His claws tore into it, a brief shriek could be heard from Eva as she was thrust out of her weapon form returning to her human form and rolling about the ground from the power and speed of the strike. "Now for you!" designated the Evil Human as he brought his sharp claws back down towards Helena.

The shark headed whip came snapping back around and into the Evil Human's hand, swatting it away from Helena. He once more groaned and grunted as he moved back taking his space and moving away from them. This drew his attention over to Mischa and Shark, while Helena tried to crawl and waddle over to her fallen weapon. He was about to say something disgustingly crude when the sound of a loud bang was heard. He twisted his head over his shoulder and fixated back on the cage.

Michael had managed to rush past him during the moment of confusion and picked up a large stone, which he was in process of banging against the locks since the keys were no where to be found. He brought it up and smashed it into the cell again and again trying to break the lock. The Evil Human immediately let loose a bestial growl and charged back over at him.

"Not so fast!" shouted Ash as he struggled up to his feet. He only managed to stay standing to launch one punch, but that was enough. His sharp dagger came through at the Evil Human and speared his chest causing another gusher of blood to come forth from the Evil Human. He whined and wailed as he backed up, his fingers crawling all over the new hole in his body. Though they couldn't see his face, they could tell it was probably twisted in agony as he took another step back. All the meanwhile blood gushed forth from his wound.

Michael brought down the rock once more into the lock, smashing it into a unrecognizable shape. He lifted the large stone above his head once more intending this to be the final smash. He put all of his weight behind it as he brought it back, hurtling towards the ground. There was one moment of a definitive sound as the stone met steel and the lock came free of both the bars and the wall and the door shuddered open.

May practically rushed out of the cell, her arms wrapping around Michael. Despite the fact that Michael was currently deaf words of both apology and thanks gushed out from her lips. The rest of the gang whooped and cheered at her emergence. The Evil Human, however, did not.

Instead he rushed upon the two reuniting friends with his claws already at the ready, swiping downwards in a diagonal fashion. Michael reacted almost instantaneously using instincts bred through constant fighting and preparing at the DWMA. He ducked beneath the slash and grabbing May, who was already transforming into her bow. He then rotated all the way about and pulled his bow back, aiming at point-blank range into the Evil Human's gut. He released his bowstring firing a single quick shot into the Evil Human. The Evil Human was blown backwards.

It was hard to tell what was worse for him, suffering the physical blow that undoubtedly both met and exceeded all the small paper cuts he had received so far or the mental blow that told him he was no longer going to be able to completely avoid the attacks. His advantage in speed was remarkably shortened ever since the kid stood up on his own two feet and now it was even less important due to the kid's advantage in range with the bow. He quickly backed up, unsure of how to continue. He had no idea how to continue...he had no options remaining. The other students were worth at least half a man, so now they were basically tied up in terms of people on each team. His advantages just kept dropping Maybe now would be a good time to go and regroup with Vigrid.

The Evil Human twisted about, his intent to leave showing through even his mask. He froze as he saw the door. The darn little girl wielding the halberd had apparently moved over and positioned herself in front of the door. Her large weapon made getting past her almost impossible, even with his higher speed. Jumping and dashing towards her while she held that weapon was seeming more and more unlikely as he stood there and stared at her considering his chances.

"What's the matter?" she said with a cold sneer, "can't get past a little girl and to freedom, coward?" The Evil Human angrily gnashed his teeth at her. He was about to take a step forward and rush her, mowing her down first. However, he quickly stopped and backed up as he realized that it was nothing more than a trap. The darn papers that have proven themselves to be quite annoying were swirling around, the instant he had gotten close enough there was no doubt that they would've spun in slashing him apart with several small and sharp cuts.

He guessed that solved it. His best and most entertaining option was to kill that girl first, "brothers?" he asked out loud. It was disappointing he had come close to killing her with their last exchange, but apparently she managed to come back. It irritated him beyond belief that he failed to kill her once and now she had come back to squash his next plan? How annoying!

"Yes, yes, yes brother! I share that sentiment! I say we kill her first, kill, kill, kill!" chimed in the second brother.

"As long as I'm the one to kill them!" hissed the third voice as the Evil Human twisted about, its entire body slumping downwards as its eyes locked onto poor Helena. "Such a sweet idea...I could definitely enjoy killing such a young girl like that."

The Evil Human half-staggered and half-walked over to Helena. Helena's eyes remained focused on it, but her hands quickly wrapped themselves around Eva and pulled her in close to her chest. Her arms were completely wrapped around Eva, making the small book almost disappear beneath them. The Evil Human didn't seem to notice or care, its piercing yellow eye was aimed directly at Helena. Despite the fact that the mask hid its face you could hear his tongue swish around his lips with a disturbing wet sound. Helena did nothing more than stick her tongue out at him, goading him forward.

Melody, Mischa, and Semper all lashed out furiously trying to defend her with their stronger whips, but the Evil Human seemed strangely focused and intent at Helena. Its claws flickered from his body and swatted the whips away with little problem. Michael was the next line of defense with Bridget guarding the door and Ash too far away and too slow to intervene, he rushed forward. He knew that an arrow was just too risky, right now the Evil Human was just walking but shooting an arrow would agitate his movements and make him rush forward and if he missed then the distance was too small for him to fire another. He would rush and put himself in between them, his bow and arrow was a little bit better at taking hits than Bridget's small book.

He got there just in time and he widened his stance and readied his bow up to guard. However, he had forgotten one of the things the Evil Human has said earlier. He told them flat out that he was no slowpoke, originally Michael thought that it was just due to the fact that they couldn't walk that made him seem fast, but that wasn't true. The Evil Human twisted his body forward, turning it through and escaping into the smallest opening Michael had, a feat not easily accomplished due to both his minor military training with his dad as well his training at the DWMA. The Evil Human didn't seem to mind though as almost instantly he was in front of Eva and Helena, his gleaming claws at the ready. They flashed forward aimed straight for Helena's skull.

Helena didn't dare try to block it. In order to do so, she would have to move her arms and drop Eva, putting her once more at the mercy of the large monster before them. No, she wouldn't do that! She nearly killed Eva once at the beginning when the large monster's perfectly honed claws pierced through her, Helena wasn't about to let that happen again! She may be bookwormish and a little weird at times, but they were partners had been ever since they joined the DWMA and they never left each other's side! So, she wasn't abut to abandon her here!

Just as those beautiful thoughts danced about in her head, her arms were forced open. It wasn't the Evil Human trying to pry them open, it was Eva. The small book that was her body was rapidly expanding, it was coated in a dark green color. Helena tried to push her back down, keep her below the Evil Human's wide swinging claws, but it was no use. Eva's body expanded, growing arms and legs, her shoulder-length brown hair exploded from her head and flowed down flying into Helena's face. Her clothes poofed out and covered her body. It was originally a forest green colored shirt, but red blood splashed out and covered them.

The Evil Human's sharp claws had drilled themselves into her, just above the stomach, but below the rib cage. Eva let out a short gasp as the air was pummeled out of her. She looked up at the Evil Human's face, which due to the sharp and pounding pain that rang out through her entire body was quite difficult, but she did it anyway.

For a second she could swear that she saw beneath the Evil Human's mask, that it wasn't there and instead were three faces, all of them identical in both looks and expressions. They had the same hair, the same colored eyes, the same skin tone. Then all of them were twisted into the same sickeningly happy smiles, like the bully who just pushed a nerd into a mud puddle and was laughing it up with his nearly identical friends. Sadly that was all she saw before the world went black.

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><p>First off, let me quickly point out that when I said 'my main character' I should've said a main character. That was my bad and I accept all evil glares. There is no one main character, Michael is the titular character and A main character, not THE. I apologize.<p>

Now if I did get right and 'a main character' I would now say 'I said I was going to kill off a main character...I never said it was going to be Michael, did I?'

Also, I am going to be taking down the poll before the next chapter. So, if you want to vote do it NOW!


	55. Chapter 54 Death

**Death**

The first few seconds were just screams. The gang were all wide eyed as they watched the Evil Human remove his sharp claw from Eva's body. Her body sagged down and over Helena's arms, which were still tightly gripping Eva. She didn't let go, Eva was slowly lumping down. The gang didn't do anything, rushing forward would be fruitless and attacking the Evil Human seemed impossible as the images of their dead friend was still before them. They were frozen in their spots at the Evil Human smiled and laughed...loudly. His cruel and insane laughter filled the air.

His body arced backwards as continued his raunchy laughter. The gang couldn't do anything, they were standing still watching him as he bellowed. Michael felt a similar uneasiness that he felt outside in the hallway while he and Ash had watched Vigrid kill the other Evil Human. The same kind of welling rage, stimulated with the Madness Wavelength that was oozing out and into the room. He felt it come up and take nest inside of him. He was so focused on that little thing in him that he didn't notice what happened next. What snapped him forward was the insane laughter had come to a sudden halt.

Michael snapped his head around. The Evil Human's face was twisted around, his neck turned almost a complete 180 degrees around. His mask had a small chip on it fall loose, revealing his white tender cheek beneath it. And who did it? Helena. She had stood up, ignoring the effects of the high-pitched sounds that echoed through the small room. Even without a weapon Meisters tend to have a powerful body and that translates into a powerful right hook. The Evil Human found that out the hard way. Helena had sent one of her fists crashing into his face, blowing apart a chunk of its mask. The Evil Human staggered for a few seconds before it returned to its senses and seconds before Helena fired her next punch. It dodged backwards avoiding the blow.

It immediately put distance between the two of them, making sure that Helena wouldn't try that again and as if to prove him right, she stumbled forward and collapsed back on the ground her sense of balance gone along with a small chunk of sanity. She slid forward and collapsed onto her knees, bending at the waist and falling the rest of the way until she was basically a puddle on the ground.

The Evil Human remained twisted in place as if expecting another rallying punch to come out of her, but when nothing came out, except for a few placid mumbles about her own laziness and weakness, he bent back and once more let loose a horrendous laugh. His corner of his smile could just be seen behind the portion of his mask that was missing. This time he didn't laugh for too long though. Immediately whips and yo-yos flashed forward, aiming for his face. He backed up once more, surprised at the new found action that the previously motionless and heartbroken kids now had.

Helena's one punch, one single action had suddenly lit a fire beneath them. They no longer felt like pitying themselves for not being able to save Eva from her twisted and horrid fate, they felt like beating the crap out of the guy responsible. The Evil Human stepped back, his eye jumping from one Meister to the next. They were basically surrounding him. He felt his heart skip a beat out of fear, he turned around once more, deciding now was the time to try to jump over and clear the girl in the doorway. However, he was soon face-to-face with something he didn't expect. Michael had moved into the pathway, expecting such a cowardly act and even worse he had his bow drawn all the way back and another arrow primed and ready for shooting.

The Evil Human stumbled and tried to turn around, but Michael fired his arrow. The arrow zoomed through air faster than any bullet. The arrow slammed into the Evil Human's shoulder, he slipped briefly and let out a brief shout as he lost all of his senses. Of course, his shouting didn't warrant any sympathy from the gang. Their whips and sickles came screaming across the air at his head. He barely had enough time to whimper much less move before the weapons scraped blood from his face and knocked more chunks of his mask free from his face, completely revealing his mouth which was scraggly and filled with to the brim with horrible black and yellow teeth.

The Evil Human stumbled around briefly, trying to stay calm, but couldn't. He turned around and faced the doorway. His eyes latched onto the girl sitting in there. They were too many and now they were all lashing an endless array of attacks even now they launched every attack after attack all them snapping through the air. They weren't wasting a second all of them were trying to kill him, he couldn't stay calm he had to run and escape as quickly as possible. He just had to keep running away. He swung away, charging toward the girl desperate to get away from this mad house which was now filled with people who wanted him dead even more than before. A few minutes ago it was their job now it was their desire to see him dead.

He rushed forward, but Bridget's mighty swing of her weapon made him scoot back. In the room he only had to worry about whips and yo-yos, but in that small doorway the large halberd that she held was a deadly force. There was no room for him to dodge about in the doorway, he would be stuck in the space and the mighty swing of the halberd would probably be enough to kill him. His chances were probably better with the yo-yos, he would just need to pay special attention to the sickle and the arrows in this room.

He was immediately taken by surprise once more. Ash had stumbled to his feet and was already charging through the room at him, his sharp blade at the ready at the very tip of his gauntlet. The Evil Human swung backwards trying to avoid another attack, it was like the end of the each attack was immediately chained to another attack. It was impossible for him to avoid them all, eventually he'd be caught and that time seemed to quickly coming up.

He took another step back trying to separate himself for the poor people that were still sadly crawling about on the ground trying to avoid the fighters as more and more attacks began flying out at him. The endless snapping whips came crashing through the air and he was constantly being forced off-balance and nearly killed from the insane attacks. He leaned back and immediately watched with wide eyes as the shark-headed whip screamed down his face, nearly cutting into his mask even more.

An arrow whizzed by his head once more trying to drill through it and instantly kill him. He swung back and tried to avoid it, once more it narrowly missed him. Michael moved forward, swinging forward and taking aim at him once more. He brought his bow down and fired a quick shot into the Evil Human's shoulder spurring a new streak of blood from it. The Evil Human moved back, his eyes wide.

Michael prepped another shot, the Evil Human had no way of dodging this shot, his balance was clearly off anyone could see that. Regardless, Michael's shot still burrowed into the Evil Human's shoulder rather than his head. The Evil Human's body spiraled around, falling to the ground and collapsing to the ground. He had a brief moment of pain before Michael prepared another arrow and aimed downwards. He let loose the arrow and it flew off of his bow and slid into the Evil Human's chest.

The Evil Human let out another loud scream. He couldn't move, he was writhing in pain. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it...I was playing around that's all! That's how we act, that's what we were doing nothing more! It was all Vigrid's idea! We are innocent and everything, don't act mean to me! I'm innocent!"

Michael prepped another arrow and aimed downwards. "Michael!" whined May her reflection appearing in the bow for a brief flash, "you're aiming too low! Aim higher, you'll miss his head if you fire now." Michael made a sound, something of a disappointed grunt as he raised his bow up and at the Evil Human's face. He let loose and the arrow zoomed forward splicing into the Evil Human's mask and splitting it in two. The broken pieces of the mask slid off of his face and onto the ground, revealing the Evil Human's deformed face.

He had three eyes all randomly placed on his face. They were randomly rolling around, one eye would go completely white and then the other eye would reveal their pupil. Only one pupil could be seen at a time. On top of having three eyes, he had three pairs of lips on his face each one would open up and starting gasping for a new breath trying to stay alive while he writhed about on the floor. His mouths slowly began to hiss and whine all the up to the point when he disintegrated back into the small red Kishin Egg.

Michael confidently bent down and lifted the small Kishin egg back up to May, offering it to her. May ignored it. She instead immediately transformed back into her human from and rushed over to her fallen ally, stumbling several times along the way. Eva had taken a bad blow several times now and each time it was in order to protect her partner. It was a weapon's 'duty' to die for their partners and it happened more often than people preferred, but it was still a heavy realization to see it happen before your own eyes.

The gang immediately rushed up, despite several stumbles from their thrown-off balance they managed to get to her fairly quickly and they immediately surrounded her. Ash grabbed a hold of her wrist and checked for a pulse. It was faint, but it was still there. He let out a breath of relief, however it wasn't quite good enough. They were hours away from the school. There was no way they could rush back to the school and have her checked on quick enough. Melody scanned her brain trying to remember if they had passed an infirmary, but the dull ache that resided in her leg reminded her that they had not.

Bridget immediately ripped off a sleeves of her own shirt and pressed it into the Eva's wound, but she was lost on what to do exactly, the only thing she could do was repeat the things she had seen on television and try to keep her alive. She fought back tears, a notable expression on the face of the school's resident and sort-of self-proclaimed 'cool girl'.

Helena had broken back down ignoring all ideas of logic and rather than trying to stop the bleeding, had resorted to the Heimlich maneuver, which at this point defeated every single point of intelligence possible. She just continued to pump down on top of Eva, her eyes focused on Eva's eyes, hoping to see the light flicker back behind them.

Michael walked over there, his mind still slightly blurry for some reason. His thoughts would flash back to the Evil Human, laying on the ground, gasping for breath and begging for mercy and that would be all. He didn't think about Eva right now as a matter of fact he felt slightly elated for some odd reason despite her. He remembered Vigrid and thought that it had to be because him, that this strange feeling in him had to be because of Vigrid, but...he couldn't shake the feeling regardless as the Evil Human's dying breaths once more popped up into his mind and made him crack a smile.

"Stop!" shouted a voice from the room. The gang's head swiveled to the side to see an older woman locked up in the cell adjacent to May's old one, "I can help. I know a little about medicine! I can help you, trust me!"

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><p>I need some inspiration for this story. Any ideas where I can find some? Some more fight scenes are coming up until I do.<p> 


	56. Chapter 55 A Surprise Attack

**A Surprise Attack Draws Blood**

The gang stared at the woman currently imprisoned behind the heavy bars of the Evil Human's jail. Eva then reclaimed their attention with a short and shallow cough, that gushed blood from her mouth. They were frozen with no idea about what to do. They had no idea about who this girl was and the only thing they had to really go on was the fact that she was the Evil Human's enemy.

The woman didn't look like an enemy and definitely not like an Evil Human. She was of a small and fairly light build, she didn't have demonic red eyes, although they were black. She had long gray hair and a dark cocoa skin complexion. She had on black jeans and a gray low-cut shirt. She had a black jacket in the cell with her, but she had taken it off.

Helena rushed up to her and picked the same rock Michael was using and brought it down on top of the lack, any and all sense of trepidation was flushed out of her due to the near death of her flailing partner. She just wanted to save her at any and all costs even if it was troublesome. She didn't know who she was, but she was willing to do anything for her partner. She smashed it down again and again, holding back a river of tears as she tried to bust it open. Strangely after the fights and the running to get here...her entire body felt sore...she felt tired. She felt like just going to sleep like she always did, but if she did that now...would Eva be there to wake her up?

Finally, the lock broke open. It fell onto the floor and Helena collapsed in front of it. "Thank you," whispered the older lady as she rushed out past Helena and to Eva's side, "this will be a very quick operation. We don't have a surplus of time, so I need you to do everything I say without hesitation. The more time we hesitate the more time she'll waste. the first step is going to be simply buying more time. As you guessed wrapping a heavy cloth around her to stop the bleeding is step one." Despite the fact that every single word she said was something close to an order and a matter of life and death she never once raised her voice or said anything rude...she was talking with the most pleasant voice of anyone in the whole world.

Ash quickly used Xander's blade to cut loose a chunk of his shirt and give it to her. She immediately pressed down and tied it tightly around Eva. She worked quickly over the next few hours ordering several quick movements from the gang. They did everything they could to help, but their supplies were rather limited. By the time everything was said and done, Eva looked a little better, but not by much.

"Good," said the woman stretching back and wiping her cascading gray locks out of her face. "That should hopefully buy us enough time to get her from here to the DWMA. Its not too far away, is it?" She remembered her plane was ambushed too far away from it and that these kids managed to get from there to here fairly quickly.

"Yeah," said Ash, nodding his head. With the fear of losing a friend somewhat lessened for now his mind was functioning at a higher level and he was recalling all of the facts. From the way back to the DWMA to the fact that they were at war with the Evil Humans to the fact that Vigrid could come back at any second. "We need to get going," he said swiveling around and facing the rest of the group. They nodded in compliance, except for Michael, who was still working on fixing his broken ear.

"Shouldn't we know who she is first?" asked Semper. He definitely didn't want to be known as the guy who brought some evil woman onto the campus. It didn't exactly spell more votes. The fact that he had a vague memory of her didn't help either. He knew he saw her and he had an immediate surge of trepidation to that fact.

"My name is Myrrh Furlough, I'm a Death Scythe, and I am here to help," she stated, but the gang all shivered and backed away at the name. The infamous story of Myrrh Furlough was one that was told throughout the DWMA almost as often as the story of the students who defeated the Kishin or as often as the Boogeyman was told to little kids. It definitely wasn't a happy story.

"I know all about the story!" shouted Semper, "you sold your partner out to the witches! You two were together for a very long time and then when it came down to it, you didn't do your duty to protect him. You ran and left him to the witches! How the hell is that fair? I cannot even imagine betraying my partner! How the hell can we be sure that you are not siding with the Evil Humans as well as the witches back then. If there's even a chance such rumors are true I don't think I can allow you to enter the academy and threaten the well-being of the student body."

"I was with him for over 10 years," she stated standing up right in front of Semper and looking down at him. "You and your partner have been together for how many years?" she questioned. "One, maybe two now? I'll repeat myself...I was with him for ten years. We were as good of friends as physically possible. We were together almost as much as possible. You find it hard to imagine betraying your partner? Imagine what it would be like after 5 years have passed? After ten? I could barely imagine life without him at that point...we were together for such a long time and then he was gone! The witches took him and now? Now I'm being blamed for his horrid fate! Why don't-"

"Its okay," said May clasping a hand on her shoulder and calming her down with a soothing voice. "Its okay...I understand. I've heard your story once and I'll vouch for you when we get back to the academy and I won't allow anyone to get in the way." She shot Semper a fierce look, but he just shrugged. He did what he thought was best at the moment and he wasn't about to apologize. There was little to no way he could make this look like good anyways. "Lord Death ordered you to come anyways, so let's get going before the Evil Humans begin their final assault."

The rest of the gang nodded and they immediately set back out for the long trip back to the DWMA.

(-Back at the DWMA-)

Vigrid sent out a quick blast of compressed madness wavelength forth. It collided with one of the outer buildings and sent it crumbling to the ground into a ruined heap of bricks and wood. "I'll consider that my hello," he stated as he casually strode deeper into the city. He didn't double-check to make sure that no one was hurt, he frankly didn't care. Other than Lord Death, there was no one else in this whole town that was worthy of his attention.

He admitted that it probably would've been better for him to leave the buildings in one piece and launch more of a surprise attack on Lord Death, but some basic sportsmanship should be used. This wasn't just another war, it was a war with someone once considered to be his brother. In his heart it was something that he greatly looked forward to and greatly dreaded.

Lord Death was one of the few men in the world, who may actually be a challenge. In a regular fight between the two of them the outcome was uncertain, it was going to be an actual challenge! He would definitely work-up a sweat for the first time in ages. Not only that, but Vigrid knew with certainty that his act in this war would go down with a great pride, revenge for his fallen brother seemed like a noble cause.

Even with the anticipation of a good fight and a worthy cause furthering his reasons for this war and fight, he had to admit it wasn't all rainbows and sunshine. It was going to be brother versus brother, which in addition to being a horrible cliché was also a very hard idea, even if he was righteous in going about it. He also felt a quick twinge of sorrow for the innocent souls about to get caught up in it. He didn't think like Marburg that the entire human race was due its punishment and he knew that war claimed many innocent souls, but he supposed the ally of your enemy is also your enemy was a fairly true concept in times of war. If they get in his way and are destroyed, so be it.

Vigrid suddenly stopped in his tracks and he looked over towards one of the buildings. His gaze intensified, locking in on the large building. "A surprise attack? I'm a little surprised I didn't sense it sooner. Ah, well, I guess that's the problem with being on a battle field, please step forward and meet your demise."

Vigrid didn't quite get the response he was expecting, rather than seeing a human figure step out of the darkness a small and oddly colored pink ball whizzed out of the building and straight for his head. Vigrid quickly brought his faithful sword out and blocked the ball, but the impact and strength of the person behind the ball was undeniable. However, Vigrid frowned. "I can tell from that attack that you are not Lord Death...I suppose I could humor you for a few seconds, but I'm afraid after that I must get going. I'm going to see my brother after all of these years."

The small pink ball disappeared, snaking its way back into the building. Vigrid waited for a few more moments, expecting another attack, but nothing happened. His battle expertise told him that nobody would give up after just one attack, especially from such a far ranged one. If his opponent got closer it was possible for a stronger attack, so that was what he must be doing, getting closer and into range to launch another attack. The question was where would the attack be coming from.

Vigrid prepared another blast of pure condensed Madness Wavelength and was about to fire it off at the building when he got what he was expecting a second attack, but this wasn't from the warrior in the building. For one the weapon was different. A second warrior was in the air and he had what appeared to be a large spinning buzzsaw-like weapon in his hand. He came crashing down, weapon first towards Vigrid's neck. Vigrid twisted around and brought his sword up and into the air to block. The high rotations of the weapon was pushing Vigrid backwards, not to mention the fact that he was falling so his full-body weight was behind the attack. It was an impressive attack as well as a plan to distract him to land this attack, but once it was done, so were they.

Out of the corner of Vigrid's eye he noticed the second warrior. He was covering ground fast and his little pink sword in his hand and the ball he had used to attack him was bobbing behind him. Vigrid paused as he realized his sword was preoccupied with the buzz-saw user and that left him open and defenseless for the next attack. Vigrid did the first thing to come to his mind. He turned around and opened his mouth and prepared another blast of madness wavelength in between his jaws and fired it. It was a small blast due to both where it was formed and how much time Vigrid had put into it, but nonetheless it ripped through the air and at the dashing swordsman.

"Left!" declared the pink sword. The swordsman didn't hesitate in jumping to the left and dodging to the blast. He continued his rush, until he was finally close enough and drove his blade into Vigrid's side. "This is war, buddy. You should've worn some armor."

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><p>Urgh...my thumb drive got wiped (no idea how) and I lost two chapters for this story...I'm working on recreating them and all, so don't worry.<p>

Also, I want to thank everybody who sent in ideas on how to get some more inspiration I've tried a couple of them and no luck yet, but I'll keep trying.


	57. Chapter 56 After the Surprise Attack

**After the Surprise Attack...**

**The Downhill Battle**

Quill drew back almost immediately as Vigrid brought his sword sweeping around attempting to take his head off once more. Quill managed to dodge it barely. He backed off as quickly as he could trying his best to avoid the next few quick slashes from Vigrid. Once he took his distance he looked over at Saul. Their combined attack wasn't quite enough to take him down, it was a failure. However, they weren't planning on it taking him out exactly.

Quill didn't quite have the power behind his thrust to take down the giant monster, defeating him would take an excess of power and speed, something that Quill couldn't quite summon in an instant, especially with his toothpick of a sword. Saul's weapon may pack the deadly force necessary, but distracting Vigrid long enough for Saul's loud and annoying weapon to get through was near impossible. It was too big to distract someone from it.

This left them with the only option to have Saul distract Vigrid and have Quill deal the little blows. They were only small little papercuts to Vigrid's massive hulking body, but if need be Quill will kill him with those. It was a simple idea. However, they were placing their lives in the hands of this simple plan. That little attack that Quill used would hopefully slow Vigrid down. They couldn't count on it to do much more, but that was their simple hope. If they could slow Vigrid down by a few seconds maybe they could do a little more damage after awhile.

"I know we agreed on finishing this off slowly, but I think we can kill him anytime we need to," stated Saul with a smirk. "I mean, look at him. He doesn't look like a strong warrior. Not like me."

Quill sighed at Saul's useless rambling. He couldn't see, so he had no idea how they looked. He assumed Vigrid was just big. He had a basic grasp of his size from Claire's instructions and with that size he didn't quite understand how he didn't look strong. He could be wearing a ballet outfit and a sombrero and Quill would still probably think he could wipe out a village.

Honestly, Quill was only here to hold him off until Lord Death arrived. He doubted someone who Lord Death would take such extreme precautions against would lose to two people like them. Despite Saul's bolstering he was starting to doubt they would even be able to scratch him again…it was a sneak attack and a distraction that managed to hit him last time. Quill doubted they could simulate such conditions again in the heat of battle.

"Forward!" cried out Saul as he rushed forward towards Vigrid. He moved rather fast he moved as quickly as he could. He covered ground, closing in on Vigrid. Vigrid chuckled, he would have preferred taking a few more seconds to tend to his wound, but he was not against batting a fly. Vigrid brought his sword in swinging it sideways for Saul's unguarded left side. The meister refused to give-up in this fight, he brought Rochelle down and blocked the heavy swing with the side of his boomerang. He was tossed backwards from the swing. Saul caught himself while he was stumbling back.

Vigrid brought his arm down and began charging another blast at point-blank range. Quill lowered his body and charged forward, getting in underneath Vigrid's swing. Vigrid swore a little as he swung his blasting arm around, taking it off of Saul as he took aim at Quill and fired. Quill dodged to the side separating himself from blast instantly. He moved to the opposite side of Saul. This was a much better attacking method against Vigrid.

Quill pulled back and sent a new volley with his little iron ball, the heavy multiple attacks came flying at Vigrid. It was simple to swat them aside with one arm with little trouble, Vigrid was remaining more focused on Saul's attack. Saul rushed forward, swinging his boomerang downwards for Vigrid's neck. Vigrid swept his sword upwards and intercepted the blow.

Vigrid spun around, swinging his sword around him in a complete 360. Both Saul and Quill went backwards, taking their distance and leaving the range of the sword. Vigrid immediately moved backwards, placing the two of them back to the front of him. Vigrid smirked as he looked at the two meisters. They were definitely tough customers, capable of pushing him back, but that was only because there was two of them. He'd just have to separate them.

Vigrid brought his arm down as quickly as he could, firing another blast off, tearing up the ground and keeping them apart. The blast temporarily separated them and blinded them, the force of the shot kicking up dirt and making it impossible for them to see each other or Vigrid. Vigrid moved forward, he moved throughout air like a bullet for Saul. His weapon was the one he had to worry about. He got up close to Saul and stopped quickly, he swept his sword upwards. He slashed upwards with enough force to split a building in two.

Saul barely managed to bring his boomerang down to block the rising slash. The slash probably would've ripped through Rochelle as well if it wasn't for Saul's own unique ability. He sent out a quick wave of soul around his weapon, super-hardening the surface and protecting it from the destructive swing. The force still blew the meister and weapon combo upwards though and soaring into the air.

Quill rushed forward, getting into Vigrid's side. The dust cloud was rising up around them, blinding the entire group, but Quill was used to being blind. He was capable of moving forward, his other senses had become tuned to compensate for the lack of eyesight. He wasn't afraid to charge through this mess and straight to Vigrid' side. He slashed wide bringing the sword digging into Vigrid's side, tearing into the flesh and causing a new spray of blood from the monster.

Vigrid swung around, catching Quill's head with a stray elbow and tossing him backwards and onto the ground. Vigrid moved forward, lifting his boot up and then slamming it back to the ground aiming for Quill's vulnerable gut. Quill rolled to the side at the last possible second, narrowly missing being stomped into the dirt. However, Vigrid like all great warriors didn't let his opponent getting away discourage him and instead brought his heel down again and again, each time Quill barely managed to roll to the side to avoid the blow.

Saul rushed forward, deciding to take advantage of this hopeful lapse in Vigrid's awareness. Sadly, Vigrid was still focused on Saul as well and he brought his sword around in order to prove it. He blocked Saul's downwards slash with his boomerang while at the same time, smashing his foot down towards Quill. Quill dodged the smashing boot and used this temporary cease-fire to leap back up to his feet and rush back to catch his breath.

Saul broke off the attack first and dodged back. The fight was starting to drag on and take too long he was surprised that both him and Quill had managed to hang on. Even Vigrid blocked his attacks, there was still so much force behind the blade that it would nearly take his arm off. Saul's breath was beginning to run short as well, he just needed to stay focused and try his best to bring the monster down before either the monster or the disease got the better of him.

Vigrid wasn't about to let up, though, he charged for Saul bringing the large bladed weapon upwards aiming for the inside of Saul's shoulder. Saul tried to remain calm, but as he blocked the heavy swing, he felt the force ram upwards all the way through his body and lift him off of his feet and into the air. However, Vigrid didn't show boat his monstrous strength by flinging him across the room, instead he just lifted Saul up and into the air. Saul's eyes went wide as he saw the dark red Madness Wavelength start to pulsate within Vigrid's hand, which just happened to be mere inches away from his face.

"QUILL!" shouted Saul as he tried to struggle and wrench himself free from this horrible position. Quill responded promptly, rushing over the ground and towards his partner. Once Quill got close though, Vigrid turned his body towards him and redirected the blast of Madness Wavelength down and at him rather than Saul. The hurricane of power rocketed forth from the monster's hand blowing the ground apart and sending sharp stones everywhere.

While Saul admitted that he felt horrible and had a slight twinge of regret for Quill getting blown to pieces, he also had to admit that he was glad it wasn't him. A loud primal yell cut through the air. Saul and Vigrid both directed their vision upwards to see Quill falling fast towards them, apparently rather than dodging to the side to avoid the blow Quill had leapt upwards and into the air to avoid the blast. And now gravity carried him forward and for Vigrid's head.

Vigrid tossed Saul aside and brought his sword upwards to block, he felt the additional force Quill's blow had behind him due to the fall course through his body. However, Vigrid was still strong and with an extra pump of his muscles he managed to push Quill back and through the air. Quill managed to land on his own two feet this time and tried to calm down. "Claire, how is Saul holding up?"

Claire's reflection flashed briefly on the sword's blade. She looked over towards to Saul, who was just scrambling back onto his own two feet. His breath had become quite heavy, but he seemed to be handling it well. She guessed it was due to his rather extreme training regimen. Saul's training was about as difficult as they come. Severe training along with severe conditions, his training was basically a nonstop fight. He fought with everyone, so he probably knew how to handle himself whenever Vigrid sent him flying.

Vigrid hefted his large sword onto his shoulder. He was growing increasing bored as the fight progressed, he really didn't find these two to be a true challenge. He wasn't in the mood for a fight against these bastards, he came here for a form of revenge. "Let me just go and I won't hunt you down and skin you."

"Funny," said Saul straightening his back up and looking at him, "I wanted to tell you the same thing. Except for that skinning thing…that's kind of gross. I have other things I'd rather do…okay? What about you Quill you wanna skin this thug?"

Quill shook his head. He didn't really want to get involved in this fight as is, he was just amazed that Lord Death still hadn't shown up yet. Shouldn't he be here, arriving at the last minute like some kind of hero? You know, before Vigrid beheaded him and Saul with a single swipe.

Vigrid strode forward towards them he lost any and all discretion due to Saul's badgering. He came, rushing like a mad bear for Saul, Vigrid brought the sword up into the air and then slammed it down using putting all of his muscles behind the monstrous swing. Saul dodged to the side and watched as the sword gouged the ground out. There was a brief flash of panic across his face as he realized how serious Vigrid was, but he swallowed it and swung the boomerang forward smashing it into Vigrid's side. Vigrid clasped his arm tightly against his body, imprisoning the boomerang between the two masses of muscles.

Saul tried to wrench his boomerang free from Vigrid's mighty hold, but he couldn't. The muscles formed an inescapable iron wall. "Shit," cursed Saul as he let go off of the boomerang and jumped back just as Vigrid brought his sword shuddering down upon him. Saul let out a breath as he had barely managed to avoid the would-be devastating, body-destroying blow.

Vigrid chuckled returning to his original stance and tearing Rochelle out of his grip. He threw Rochelle back over to Saul. Saul knew instantly it wasn't a kindness or Vigrid showing off his good sportsmanship. It was an insult. Vigrid was saying that Saul just wasn't worth his time without the boomerang.

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><p>This was the chapter that I mentioned losing, so its my second time writing it. I think my original one was funnier...I don't know I just lost something when I rewrote it. Anyways, I got new inspiration, so thank you all for your submissions.<p>

I also may be coming down with something, but it may just be sinuses (although I rarely have them this bad). Let's just see how that works out...


	58. Chapter 57 A Fierce Fight

**A Fierce Fight! **

**More Wounds and Possibly More Death?**

It was a long walk back to the DWMA for the group and as it currently stood they were probably only a third of the way back. It annoyed all of them that it was taking this long, but it was heavily suggested from Myrrh that they go slow as to not disrupt the quick patch job she had down on Eva. The gang managed to rip one of the Evil Human's beds off of the floor and they were using that to transport her. Of course, the gang was taking turns and right now it just so happened to be Bridget's and Ash's turn, both of them carrying the light weight, nearly cardboard bed-frame between them. Of course, Helena never left the bedside of her dear beloved partner since they had departed from Vigrid's base. She was mumbling things about their past together to Eva all the way so far, but it was so quiet only the people who were carrying her could hear.

Of course, some people have more manners than others… "Are we there yet?" whined Shi loudly. The crew grimaced as those were the first words anyone, besides from Helena's bedside whispering, had said. And with fearsome looks they let Shi know that his outburst was definitely not appreciated. However, when you are Shi such looks do not bother you and he replied to them with another painfully loud outburst, "but we've been walking for soooooooo long."

"Shi, WE'VE been walking for soooooooo long," muttered Melody imitating Shi's long whine. "YOU'VE been in your weapon since we left the Evil Human base, which by the way wasn't soooooooooo long ago…it has only been thirty minutes. Ordinarily, Melody may have been a little nicer and a little calmer, she had grown used to Shi's whining, but there was a limit that should be obvious even to someone as mentally dense as mer*!

"Yeah, but I've been with you guys for all this time…it is just as difficult for me to watch you guys trudge through this blazing heat and over these many miles," muttered Shi. If Melody could, she would kick mer. However, ze was in hir weapon form. Kicking ze would do absolutely nothing.

"I say we leave him," offered Xander. "You can just borrow somebody else's weapon when we get into town. Besides we are going up against an army wouldn't you feel a little better with a bigger and stronger weapon?"

"You're just a hand!" shouted Shi. "Ash just needs to tape a kitchen knife to the back of his hand and he can fight just as well as if he was with you! I actually give Melody something else to use!"

"Yeah, a rock attached to a string!"

"Still better than nothing!"

"I think we should interfere with this," stated May looking up at Michael. He had managed to repair his ears, so he could hear everything now. "This is probably pretty hard on Helena…you know." She tried to keep her voice down as low as possible, but it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference with Xander and Shi shouting.

"What do you want me to say?" asked Michael. "It is hard to convince morons to shut up. It is part of what makes them morons." May groaned, Michael had a point. Once Shi and Xander got going especially over something as stupid and childish as this it was hard to get either of them to shut up.

"Excuse me," shouted Semper standing up, he was glad they finally met a challenge that was more his speed. "I am sure that you find this argument of the highest importance, but may I remind you what situation we are in right now. We are at war! There are bound to be countless causalities on both sides and as it currently stands those numbers are probably growing back in our town! Not only that we also have our friend lying over there, growing closer and closer to joining those! We cannot let that happen, not under any circumstances! We can sit here and bicker all day about who is the best weapon, best meister, or best cake baker, but it doesn't matter. Our goal is to get back to town and your petty argument is slowing us down."

Shi and Xander's reflections shown on their weapon's reflective surfaces for a brief moment as they looked over at each other, as if pondering Semper's words. Finally they decided on how to reply to his speech, it was a unanimous, "Shut up!"

(-Back at the DWMA-)

Vigrid swung his sword sideways, slamming the blunt side of it into Saul's side and knocked him aside, sending him rolling across the ground. "Truly a shame that a great warrior like yourself would be reduced to collecting dirt," muttered Vigrid. He was growing truthfully very bored. Even though they were meisters their stamina was only like one tenth of his. They had done well to remain as active and as competitive as they have up until now, but the show was almost up. They were tiring and slowing down. It was beginning to just become sad.

"I suppose you wanna medal for beating me?" asked Saul. "Too bad there ain't one. There should be since I am one of the strongest warriors here, but there ain't. I asked Lord Death for there to be one…he turned me down." Saul laughed at his own little joke, nobody else was gonna laugh at it apparently.

Quill skidded to a stop besides Saul. He had managed to remain aloof and avoid several of Vigrid's powerful swings. He tried his best trying to avoid them and he had failed several times. It amazed him that Saul was still cracking these pitiful jokes after taking so many swings, punches, and kicks. It was an amazing effort on his part. He was kind of surprised though, he thought Saul was a little bit stronger, but based on Clare's play-by-play. He had to guess that Marburg's poison still hadn't managed to worm its way out of his body. Quill doubted it would make a difference even if he was, but it certainly wouldn't have hurt their chances if he was.

"Don't even think about running away on me," shouted Saul shocking Quill out of his thoughts. "I don't care who the hell our opponent is…I refuse to back down, we are the DWMA! Don't you dare forget that, we are the folks these half-brained kids look up to. I'd rather die a fool-hearted hero than a man who was a coward once." Saul knew very well, that what he said might turn out to be true…he may just die. However, it didn't change what he said. He wasn't turning tail.

Quill smiled and walked up in front of Saul, facing Vigrid he casually said, "Funny, I was going to tell you the same thing. Fool-hearted heroes we will be until our final breath. Clare, let's go Soul Resonance!"

It is believed that blind people can actually see images in dream. They can create mental images based off of what they hear, feel, and even smell. That was what this Soul Resonance was about. Anything and everything the weapon and meister combination experienced was instantly relayed to the other. Based on the slightest differences in what they heard or smell, they could instantly determine the best way to dodge. Better than that, through Claire's eyes, Quill could see again. He wasn't overly excited by it as the lost sense came rushing back to him.

The bleak night sky, the dull gray buildings with colorful curse words etched across them, the piles of garbage lining the streets, the world was not a welcoming sight. He wasn't too fond of how Saul looked either. He had never seen Saul before, but he knew from the man's voice and rather strong gusto he had whenever they had met before that this wasn't him. He was breathing heavily, his skin didn't have a single splash of color to it and it had resorted to being a dull pale. The only actual color, besides his clothes was the spray of blood that coated his body.

Quill wasn't too fond of this Soul Resonance, while their reflexes were heightened due to the sharing of each other's senses. Claire could utilize Quill's heightened hearing and sense of smell mid-combat and give out better directions and Quill could use Claire's eyesight, but that came with a severe problem. His sense of sight was completely dependent on Claire. If she turned her head for one split second or if Quill held her upside down, his sight was in turn flipped upside down or turned away as well. It wasn't that Quill didn't trust her to keep her eyes forward it is that it wasn't that reliable of a connection.

"I was only planning on holding you off until Lord Death could get here," said Quill rotating his sword around and holding it steady until Claire's eyes locked Vigrid. "But this idiot here talked me into cutting you down…Saul, when you have an opening take him down without hesitation!" Quill charged forward, his feet carrying him forward as fast as they could.

Vigrid chuckled as he watched the small human rush towards him. Just because of a slightly inspiring speech, he thought he would become a challenge to him. It was laughably pitiful. Another massive, swirling ball of madness wavelength formed in Vigrid's hand as he prepared to fire it off, blowing Quill's head off. The rushing swordsman didn't waver, he kept charging forward towards the glowing ball of pure power that rested in the monster's hands.

Quill twisted the sword around, flinging the small iron ball forward and for Vigrid's head. It was a little matter for Vigrid to block it with his sword, he still felt the iron ball smash into his blade, but he had more pressing matters at the moment. Quill hadn't stopped the rush in order to fling the ball at him, he kept charging with his murderous intent obvious. Quill began rapidly twisting, pulling, flinging his chain. The little iron ball responded perfectly to every movement. A bevy of attacks came pounding out from the weapon, smashing into Vigrid's body. The speed of the ball was nothing to laugh at it; it came at the speed of lightning. The attacks blended together; eventually they began to merge into one continuous chain-gun-like attack. Each blow hammering into Vigrid's weapon and even into some unguarded parts of his body.

Due to the medley of powerful and quick attacks, Quill closed the ground in between them quicker than Vigrid could fire his blast. He was in front of him and his sword was already starting to flash upwards. Only one hand was needed to control the sword, but the other hand had free reign on the small iron ball, controlling it once more with the perfect aim. The small iron ball was on Vigrid like a nest of ticked off hornets. It was coming in, zooming down on top of Vigrid's head, smashing into it. It wasn't heavy enough to distract Vigrid from the upwards slash as he still brought his blade down on top of Quill's, deflecting it to the side with ease.

Saul let the buzz-saw boomerang fly. Vigrid stepped forward, pushing Quill aside. He had decided to focus on the larger and much more deadly attack than Quill's little strikes. He swept his sword upwards from underneath the boomerang and knocking it up and into the air and away from him. Quill rushed forward, with Vigrid's arms and blades in the air like that this would be the perfect time to get in his own attack.

He was apparently wrong. Vigrid didn't use his hands or his blade to stop the attack; he instead brought his elbow smashing down on top of Quill's head. Quill stumbled back, but he quickly regained his balance and went in again, determined to draw some blood from this monstrous beast. He took the two or three steps that separated them all at once and was immediately beneath the giant's arm.

He twisted his body sending a powerful upwards slash at Vigrid. Vigrid smiled, bringing his arm down and smashing his elbow into Quill's wrist. Quill let out a gasp of pain, stumbling backwards and loosening his grip on the blade's hilt. Vigrid let out a hardy laughter stepping forward and bringing his elbow into the top of Quill's head. A rising knee was next quickly followed up by a heavy handed punch to the side of Quill's head. Quill was sent spiraling through the air and onto the ground.

Vigrid loomed over Quill's body. Quill's vision had vanished along with his weapon, he could no longer see anything. He could only make out the sudden drop of temperature, the creeping Madness Wavelength washing over his body as he was blanketed by the shadow of Vigrid and his outstretched sword.

* * *

><p>*Mer=gender neutral himher

I've been using it/him/her when referring to Shi for the longest time. Well, no more! Here is the list of gender neutral pronouns and their respective 'meaning', so you won't be completely lost. However, some characters like Xander won't refer to hir as such because they are rather ignorant/lazy.

Ze=she Mer=her Hir=her hirs=hers zemself=herself

Also, you all better pray the world doesn't end in six days, because if it does you'll never found out what happens to Quill in the next exciting installment!


	59. Chapter 58 Lord Death Arrives

**Lord Death Arrives!**

Lord Death was rushing across the academy grounds. He couldn't believe he didn't notice Vigrid's presence earlier. It was an inexcusable mistake. He cursed himself under his breath as he thought about the looming problem, the monster that was in his home. It was an understandable mistake, missing Vigrid's one soul in this chaos.

The school grounds were crawling with Evil Human souls, ever single area was being covered and taken over by the red souls. The ground was now coated in the thick bubbling mass that was Evil Human's souls, Lord Death didn't make any sudden movements where the instant he sensed Vigrid's presence he could act. Soar out across the sky and at the monster to put a stop to him and this insidious plot for revenge and desire…

There were several things Lord Death didn't account for. Vigrid's soul was…different than the last time they had met at the sealing of Marburg. It was twisted into a hideous shape. Lord Death remembered it as a massive red orb etched with Nordic runes, but this…this was different. It was a pulsating mass that refused to conform to any shape, the Nordic runes were still there, but they had become distorted against the darkened blob of his soul. Lord Death would've completely missed it due to its new shape if it wasn't for the two people fighting against it. He recognized the souls as Quill's and Saul's both of them were damaged and were taking a heavy beating, but the opposing soul didn't even seem strained.

That was what led Lord Death to his current action. He immediately recognized that if those two couldn't take down whatever it was that they were facing, immediate action was necessary. Nothing else, he didn't have the time to waste, he needed to move and he needed to move fast. His heart was pounding as he covered ground as quickly as he could. It pained him to be watching two of his best meisters lose under his watch…lose and possibly die.

Their souls were waning. They had originally been a massive blaze, but now they were starting to shrink over a series of poundings, they started to resemble a faint flicker rather than a roaring fire. Lord Death was without his weapon, Enma had yet to return from the base and the other Death Scythe was missing in action. It was pain for Lord Death that there was no more actual scythes with the rank of Death Scythe, but he would make do with what he had. He'd just commandeer Saul's Death Scythe and use that. His preferences didn't matter when his student's lives were on the line.

Quill's soul wavered again. This brought forth another burst of speed from Lord Death as he doubled his movement speed and he began to accelerate for Vigrid's soul. It was a heavy spur in his side now, knowing that Quill was being pushed even closer to death's door while he was rushing towards the scene. He would not let a meister of Quill's talent down. If it wasn't for Lord Death, Quill wouldn't be in this situation.

Quill was blind and always had been. He never saw the sun, he never saw his opponents, and there was no method to restore his vision. He would be blind forever and yet Lord Death had enlisted him as a soldier. Since he was blind there was no way he could ever become a long ranged fighter where even an inch off target would result in horrible mistakes, he had to be close-ranged in the most dangerous spot possible, placing his life on the line.

Lord Death was impressed by Quill's iron will. He had managed to convince him through his desire to be of use, to take down the huge numbers of Evil Humans in the world and his skills were already top-notch…Lord Death had allowed his skill and will to overpower his reason…and for that reason he may be faced with the fact he may lose a great meister.

Another soul flickered and lost some flame, except this time it was Saul's. Another lapse in judgment on Lord Death's part. A blind man and a man with a possible fatal illness are taking on one of the deadliest monsters on the planet. And Lord Death placed them both there. If they died…it would be his fault and he would accept all blame.

But that was if they died! And Lord Death had no intention of letting that happen.

(-With Vigrid-)

Vigrid was glaring over at Saul, who he had just thrown. He was about to deliver the finishing blow to the other guy, Quill, but then that deranged and ugly monkey had hopped up onto his shoulder and tried to punch him. Vigrid wasn't someone who would let that beat him, and managed to grab a hold of Saul and toss him through the air and watched as Saul smashed into the ground repeatedly. Vigrid found the whole ploy rather entertaining as once more neither team was even remotely strong enough to handle him and yet they had managed to stall him for such a long time.

It didn't matter know though. Vigrid may not have the same Soul Perception that the many meisters he had defeated would often tout about, but he had something similar to it. A sixth sense capable of finding strong souls and one that could only possibly belong to Lord Death was heading his way now. Vigrid allowed himself a smile as he turned his head in the direction of this blasting soul, he snickered quietly as he was looking forward to facing off against this foe. It would be a little while longer until he arrived.

"Looks like Lord Death is on his way," muttered Vigrid returning his glare over to the two meisters, "I hope you two still have enough energy left in you to keep me occupied, because if you don't…" Vigrid turned around to face one of the buildings. Another ball of Madness Wavelength built up in his palm, he let it fly towards the building. There was deafening explosion as the ball made contact and brought the building falling down like a chopped tree.

"I'm really glad I dodged those," said Saul wiping a new trickle of blood from his mouth. "My new year's resolution was not to be blown to pieces and for once I'd like to finish it."

"Another joke!" shouted Vigrid rushing Saul in seconds. His hand stretched forth and wrapped around Saul's neck. Hefting him into the air, Vigrid locked eyes with the poor choking meister, "is that what war is to you? A confounded joke?! And you wonder why I swore to eliminate the human race, when you guys take war so lightly!?" Vigrid's entire body wooshed around in a circle tossing Saul at Quill who was trying to rush upon Vigrid. The two collided and were knocked back, rolling about the dirt.

Vigrid lifted his boot and gently placed it on top of the mangled heap that was once two brave meisters, he brought his sword off of his shoulder and gently lowered it into Saul's shoulder. "I'd like to take this moment to apologize and say that I don't particularly care for killing. It's a dirty, messy, mundane act committed by barbarians for fun. Unfortunately for you however, I do believe that sometimes it is a necessary evil."

A black blur spiraled forward crashing into Vigrid and blowing him back and off of his feet. Vigrid was blown through the air and into a building. Before them, in Vigrid's previous spot, was Lord Death. Lord Death was obviously tired from his long race over here. He had exhausted himself as he raced through the city to this place and now that he was finally here, he looked over at the monster his previous brother had become.

Vigrid had a wicked smile spread across his face as he pushed a bit of the rubble off of his shoulder and stood up again. The building pieces that were scattered all over his body slid harmlessly off. He sheathed his sword and approached Lord Death, "So, you know how Marburg's been?" asked Vigrid, wasting not even a second with familiar pleasantries. He came here for an all-out war that ended with Lord Death's head on a silver platter.

"He's been lonely," sighed Lord Death as he immediately backed up. He was still without a weapon and he knew that against Vigrid, it would be in his best interest to grab one, "no one ever visited him while he locked away." Lord Death eyed Vigrid, it had been awhile since they had last met. Vigrid had changed for the worse. His muscles became larger and he had won many new battles scars that decorated his body, the most notable difference was the large blade he had swung over his back.

"Ah, yes, of course," replied Vigrid taking another sure step forward, just to notice Lord Death move away, "I tried so hard, but whoever designed that jar was quite an expert with subspace as well as locking mechanisms. I couldn't break it open no matter how hard I tried. Only recently have I heard that the lock was growing weaker. I sent a few witches to help with his break-out…I heard that your students nearly stopped them."

Lord Death grimaced, "If things had gone as I planned…it wouldn't have been nearly. He would've been sealed away for another three millennia. Left to rot and fester in that subspace again and I would've repeated this cycle for a long time." Lord Death motioned to Saul to hand over his weapon. Saul complied immediately, while he wasn't fond of losing his weapon, he wanted to see Vigrid have his butt handed to him and Lord Death was the best man for that job.

"I have no regrets for that day," continued Lord Death, "I did what I had to do…if anything I regret not ending his life, alas my conscience got the better of me and held me back. If I could do it again I do not think things would go any differently. He is my brother, but he needed to be stopped. Now that you know my resolution will that make you more willing to fight against me at full power?"

Vigrid gritted his teeth striding forward to Lord Death and brandishing his blade. "I understand how you felt back then on that day. I feel similar now, being torn between two sides…but my cause is different. You chose these filthy humans over your own brother! I originally let it go thinking it was just another sibling bout and Marburg's extreme opinion needed a few centuries to calm down, but now that I agree with him. I'm afraid I will help him accomplish his long sought after goal by getting rid of the one person standing in his way! YOU!"

The battle began with that single word. Both sides accepted that there was no turning back and moved in an instant. They crossed weapon and stood as close to each other as possible, Lord Death felt Vigrid's icy cold breath stretch down his back. "This isn't the way our brotherhood should end!" shouted Lord Death, "you were on my side once! You saw the good in people!" Lord Death blew Vigrid's blade up and into the air and brought his shoulder slamming into Vigrid's chest.

Vigrid didn't even flinch, he had weathered worst blows. He feared that his brother's fullest conviction may not be in this fight, he decided to drag it out of him. Vigrid brought his two hands down, smashing them into Lord Death's back and forcing him back. He stepped forward and thrusted his sword's hilt into Death's abdomen and pushed him back. "Save your breath, brother. I was blind back then…I saw what I wanted to see. I saw perfect creatures that deserved a second chance. But seeing Marburg's life taken away in order for them to have that chance was the beginning of my doubts! If they were so good then why did my brother see them as evil? Why did his life have to be removed in order for them to live! If they were so good, it shouldn't have been that way in the first place, but it is! They are more flaws than perfection. I want them gone!"

Another exchange of blows from the two brothers ensued.

* * *

><p>Happy Holidays! I got nothing more to say!<p> 


	60. Chapter 59 the Good Old times

**The Good Old Times**

Lord Death brought the boomerang down and onto Vigrid's sturdy sword. Vigrid looked at Lord Death with a smile on his face. "You've seem to be doing pretty well since you betrayed your brothers," he muttered. With a final and powerful push, he knocked Lord Death away and into the air. "You have a school filled to the brim of students and teachers willing to die for the cause. Your own private military ready to go to war at the snap of your fingers." Vigrid stepped in and spun his entire body around generating a mighty swing with his blade capable of chopping steel in half.

Lord Death didn't want to endanger Rochelle, so rather than block he jumped into the air and let the blow swing under him. "And I would return the favor to each and every one of them," said Lord Death as he fell back down on top of Vigrid. "Death Chop!" He brought his bare hand down and for Vigrid's head, Vigrid's massive arm swung up and blocked it at the last second. "They have become just as much as my family as you once were and can still be if you just put this pointless need for revenge behind you! You don't need to destroy one of your brothers with your own hands!"

"You should listen to yourself!" shouted Vigrid bringing his head forward and smashing it into Lord Death's. Lord Death stumbled backwards. "You imprisoned your own brother!" A knee strike into Lord Death's abdomen was followed by a powerful right hook across his face. The combination continued with elbow to his shoulder, a side kick to the gut, and it ended with a regular straight. Lord Death was sent flying back. "You imprisoned him! And then you decide to build a school and teach the humans, he hated to bring down more people like him! All the while you flourished, you started being treated like a god! A god who turned his back to his family!" Vigrid lifted his sword up into the air and was about to bring it down, splitting Lord Death in two, but Lord Death was craftier than that. He jabbed his shoulder with all of his might into Vigrid's stomach.

"He needed to be stopped! Just like you do now!" Lord Death rocketed forward catching Vigrid in his arms and rocketing forward with the same speed he used to get there on time. The two of them collided into and through building after building. Lord Death finally stopped, throwing Vigrid forward and into another building. "Humans deserve the right to continue their existence, they've made marvelous leaps and bounds with both technology and peace since the old days!"

A small burst of madness wavelength shot from Vigrid's hand and knocked Lord Death back. "Really? Do you know what I've been doing while you've built your empire?" questioned Vigrid as he shoved another chunk of building off of his body. "I've been studying these 'marvelous' humans trying to decide who to believe. Marburg or you…I've come to my own decision. The human race is 90% trash, 90% of them are a horrible disease that cause the rest of them to suffer! You wish to protect that trash!" Another blast of Madness Wavelength built up in Vigrid's hand as he prepared to fire. And he did. The powerful charge of sheer insanity shot forward at Lord Death.

Lord Death brought his hand and created a shield to protect himself from the blast. It wasn't as strong as he would've liked it and he could feel the blast would overpower him eventually, but he didn't plan to let it go on that long. Lord Death shifted the shield and redirect the blast skywards and out of harm's way. He just hoped that all the birds had cleared the vicinity. He turned back around just to see Vigrid charging at him again, sword already in motion.

He swung Rochelle forward and let her fly. The boomerang cut through the air with Lord Death's power and at Vigrid. He stopped himself at the last moment and braced himself for impact. His monstrous feet sunk into the ground and he brought his sword up in front of him in order to block the heavy blow. The boomerang swung into the sword and pushed him back a little. Rochelle was just as determined to force Vigrid's hand, but she just didn't have it in her. With one final push, she was deflected and sent flying back up and into the air.

Lord Death wasn't nearly done, he continued the chase closing in right after the boomerang and he was right in front of Vigrid. He let fly a series of punches with his bulky hands. Each one of them found their mark, pummeling the monstrous body of pure muscle that stood before him. Each punch slightly pushed Vigrid back and stunned him, but his massive body and muscles that were almost as hard as a layer of armor made the punches barely matter to him.

Vigrid chuckled to himself, he swung his sword upwards into the air and back down for the reaper. Lord Death backed away with nearly twice the speed he had when he charging Vigrid. The powerful chop caused an upheaval of dirt and rocks. His mighty sword had split the ground itself. He hefted the heavy and destructive weapon back up onto his shoulder. "It looks just like the good old days; you are still only the second best. I've always been the strongest one amongst us!" Vigrid leaned forward and then, with the use of his massive leg muscles, he shot forward like a rocket, his sword already prepping for the killing swing.

Once more Lord Death threw up his faithful Soul Shield in front of him to block the rocketing monstrosity. He felt Vigrid hit the shield and was even pushed back from the fearsome full-body tackle. As soon as he felt the momentum disappear, he dropped his shield and brought his arm in sweeping downwards. His hand came swooping into Vigrid's shoulder with plentiful force.

Vigrid grimaced as he felt Lord Death's famous Death Chop shudder into his shoulder. He remembered that faulty move from when they were kids. He never understood how Lord Death managed to place that much power behind it, especially when he has such a pathetic and wiry body. Vigrid had trained for years, his body was built up into what could be considered perfection by some. Muscles on top of muscles, arms capable of denting steel, a head filled with knowledge of war tactics, and thick tree-like legs supported this incredible body. And yet that Death Chop of Lord Death's surpassed any common sense. For such a small body to produce that amount of force another trick must've been used, but Vigrid could never figure it out.

Lord Death backed up before Vigrid recovered enough from the stun of the Death Chop to launch another attack. Vigrid's thick muscles not only provided him with top-notch offensive power, but his defensive abilities also benefited from it. Lord Death needed to limit the amount of muscle that would absorb the blow to a smaller area. If he did that he may be able to pierce the wall of muscle and get to the bones beneath it. If he had Saul's Soul Resonance, he may be able to apply enough power and friction to bypass the flesh, but sadly he didn't. Soul Resonance varied from person to person and definitely from person to Shinigami. He needed another method to get through those muscles.

It was starting to make Lord Death remember their old fights.

(-Several Millennia ago-)

A much younger Lord Death rolled over on the ground. His body had taken several heavy beatings. He tried to re-energize his body, but it was riddled with injuries. A wiry hand extended down to him, it was one of his best friends, Marburg. Lord Death accepted it and he pulled him back up to his feet. "Thanks," said Lord Death, gratefully.

"No problem," said Marburg. "I have morals unlike those humans you think have worth." Lord Death rolled his eyes behind his mask as he patted a little dirt off of him. Originally Lord Death thought of him a little higher of most witches, but he has recently developed a strong hatred for human. He had to wonder why. He stated that it was because of the many problems they seemed to breed, but Lord Death still had a slight worry to what it was exactly.

Lord Death knew the humans were flawed he saw many of their mistakes from the beginning, but he chose to overlook them in favor of their perfections. He thought Marburg had done so originally as well, but something changed. Lord Death was starting to wonder what it was, but he didn't want to pry into Marburg's reasons. Nor did he seem to have the time as the man who had knocked him down came walking over to him.

Vigrid as a younger man was still impressive. His muscles were just as impressive in the past as they were in the present. He didn't have his sword yet, but he still had several etchings of rune symbols on his body. His soul was still in pristine condition a righteous ball with the runes covering it. "That's 231 fights, 95 wins for me, 86 wins for you, and 50 draws." Vigrid smirked, his training had paid off he managed to take down Lord Death again. In one-on-one fights he was nearly unmatched. Marburg had slightly better rates whenever he was outnumbers, but one-on-one fights was where he ruled!

"Sheer luck," said Lord Death as he wiped more of the dirt off of him. It was barely 10% difference. Not to mention 50 draws and 86 wins outnumbers the 96 wins. So he didn't win more fights than he actually won. "Just luck," he repeated. "These continuous chains of fights are tiring. Speaking of which where did the other guy go?"

"Where do you think? He's hungry," said Vigrid with a shrug. "Ready for another round Marburg?" He asked nearly jumping at Marburg, sending a couple hundred pounds of pure muscles for him. Marburg slid back and away from Vigrid.

"I'm fine," said Marburg with a worried tone. "Let's wait for all four of us to get together before we start fighting again." Vigrid huffed and turned away. He needed constant fighting in order to keep not only his body in top physical condition, but also his mind. If he didn't exercise what he had studied during these spars, how else would he get better?

All of a sudden a sharp cry cut through the air. Marburg, Vigrid, and the Lord Death all twisted around to see what was going on. They shot through the air like gods they were. None of them wasted a second at arriving to the scene of the scream. Lord Death arrived first, his 'skinny' and 'wirey' body leant themselves to his aero-dynamics. Vigrid had arrived last due to the exact opposite reason, his bulging muscles only served to slow him down.

The gang looked down upon the scene with a mixture of interest and caution. This shrill voice had cut through the air mere moments ago and now they were looking down at the scene that had undoubtedly caused it. What had happened and who was down there struck all three of them at once. They felt a growing sense of trepidation and worry as they looked on.

It was a witch standing over a nearly breathless human. The witch stood there with a gleaming power in her hands and an evil smirk on her face. Lord Death held his tongue due to his long-lasting friendship with Marburg, but truth is told he never liked witches. They were usually a pretty conniving group, he was sure that Marburg would probably insult humans if he brought up morality and the likes up, so he just let that topic die.

The witch took another confident step forward towards the human, magic at the ready. She was going to kill the human!

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><p>I am clearly having a little fun at Lord Death's expense in the second to last paragraph. Marburg thinks all humans are evil, but Lord Death can be a little bit biased to witches at time. Not all the time and he does believe in good witches, but most of the time…if witches are doing something, it is something bad.<p>

Also, I have decided to try and make my own manga. I will continue this story and my others in the meantime. Ask if you want the details and wish me luck!


	61. Chapter 60 A Flash Back with More

**Flash Back With More Trouble!**

The bright red magic swirled about in the witches hand as she loomed over her victim; a satisfied smirk was clear across her face. She lifted her left hand up into the air and was about to let the blast fire when Lord Death came crashing down into her, knocking her away from her latest victim. Immediately a slew of curse words flew from her mouth as she struggled to toss the much more powerful Lord Death off of her, but she couldn't. "Let me kill that pig!" she screamed as she once more attempted to knock Lord Death back. When she saw both Vigrid and Marburg behind him, she settled down a little bit, but the hatred still didn't leave her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Marburg asked the witch, prying Lord Death off of her with a little trouble. Being a witch himself, he'd always side with the witches, especially over the human pigs. They were disgusting sleaze balls who were nothing, but trouble. He wanted to kill them all and as far as he was concerned witches could do no wrong. Besides he knew very well that she wouldn't try anything. Even if she did, there was three of the most powerful and terrifying beings in the universe in front of her. He was fairly certain they could stop her.

"Let me kill him!" shouted the witch nearly rushing through them in a berserk, anger fueled frenzy. Vigrid was blocking her way, though, and with one hand he easily pushed her down onto the ground and restrained her with little problem. "That bastard...he…he…" her rage was immediately replaced with sobbing tears. "He raped me!" she cried as she recklessly punched Vigrid in the face.

There was a slight flash of anger across Vigrid's face as he considered punching her back, but he didn't, he held back and let the poor witch up and onto her own two feet. Once more she tried a map leap to try to get past them. Lord Death and Vigrid easily held her back without much problem. There were two of them and one of her, but her maddening flailing made it a pain. Several of her punches landed on their heads, and they flinched at every one.

"Calm down," said Lord Deatth trying to be the voice of reason as he clamped his hands around her arms. "He's a bastard, but we'll make sure he gets the punishment he deserves. But he does not deserve death, we'll take care of this ourselves. All three of us…" a loud sudden and horrible cough filled the air. The cough had a wet, hacking cough sound to it. It made a horrible shiver run up Lord Death's spine as he heard the horrible sound.

Marburg was standing over the poor human as he was writhing in pain. His left hand was placed over the human's head and a poisonous purple gas was flowing from his body and surrounding the two of them. The human tried to break free, but couldn't. The poisonous gas was still whipping around them and he couldn't breathe. The disease was slowly tightening his lungs and shriveling them up inside his body, his blood vessels felt like they were about to pop, his skin felt like acid had been poured all over it. And Marburg was standing over him, with a cruel smile on his face, enjoying the man's pain.

"What are you doing," screeched Lord Death as he flew over and slammed into Marburg, knocking him away from the man. "What's the matter with you?" lectured Lord Death as he turned Marburg over on to his back. The faint light behind his mask glared harshly down upon the witch. The clear personal bias was welling up between them again and again.

"What's the matter with me?" shouted Marburg shoving Lord Death off of him, "how can you still stand on the side with the humans? They need to be eradicated! Wiped clean from the face earth, this should be a prime piece of evidence for you, but you still refuse to see it!"

Lord Death shoved Marburg off and into the ground, "I'm not siding with him! He didn't deserve the death penalty. What he did was wrong, but the death penalty was too extreme!" Lord Death looked over at the man and quickly amended what he said as he rushed over to him, "or whatever this is!" Lord Death barked back. The man wasn't dead; he was just in the most extreme pain imaginable.

Marburg's disease also extended into some of the vilest poisons in the world. Direct contact with him was the easiest way to administer it and when it was injected through that method it made it the hardest to cure. The death penalty was a mercy compared to this. Once more Lord Death turned around and rocketed towards Marburg, his mercy for the witch had hit an all-time low. Marburg was taken by shock and had no hope as he was blown back. It took Vigrid a few minutes to pry the two apart.

Lord Death broke free from Vigrid's hold and looked over at where the witch was. She had bolted fairly quickly, but not before managing to plunge a dagger into the man's heart. Lord Death shook his head and glared at Marburg, as far as he was concerned this whole mess was his fault. Marburg stood there with a valiant smile on his face.

"What can I say?" asked Marburg, "I like it when the good guys win." He frowned as he looked over at the human being; the poor pig was still alive. He knew better than trying to take her down. Lord Death's watchful gaze refused to leave Marburg. With a wave of his hand he decided it was time and he left.

"You okay?" asked Vigrid taking the time to check on his noticeably less than happy friend. Lord Death returned a startling glare to him. He was in no way, shape, or form a good mood. His opinion of both Marburg and all witches plummeted again. "You can't blame them," reasoned Vigrid, "I'm not happy about how this thing turned out, but you just can't blame them."

(-Modern times-)

A slam from Vigrid's blade had slammed Lord Death back to the present and out of his daytime dreams. Vigrid swept his blade across the ground once more, sweeping his feet out from underneath of him. Lord Death was knocked into the air, he stepped forward and brought his blade downwards on top of Lord Death.

Lord Death clasped his hands together and managed to stop the downwards slash, holding it midair as he tried to prevent it from gouging into his body. He twisted to the side, throwing Vigrid and the blade away from him. While Vigrid was thrown off balance, Lord Death leaned forward, shooting forward like a rocket once more, picking Vigrid up and dragging him through the air. With another twist Lord Death sent Vigrid flying through the air with a throw, smashing him into another building. The repair bill for the city was going to be humongous, but chances are if Vigrid was allowed to roam free it would probably be much bigger.

Lord Death flew forward, he wasn't about to let up. Vigrid was a monster, but he wouldn't hold back. Lord Death quickly began rotating around, quicker and quicker, he came smashing into Vigrid and not holding back. He kept pushing and forcing the large monster into the wall. One push after another, he kept moving forward. He buried the beast in the building, without batting an eye. Lord Death backed up and brought his hand sweeping through the building, breaking it down and causing the building to collapse on top of him.

Lord Death backed up a few feet. Even though it may be overkill he created a large soul shield and brought it down on top of the rubble again and again. He twisted the shield around and brought sweeping across the ground, pushing the rubble aside along with Vigrid lost somewhere in it.

Lord Death was about let up and let him up, when a powerful red blast came cutting through the air and at him. Another blast ripped through the rocks and threw debris out into the air and at Lord Death. Another powerful shield protected Lord Death from this new blast, he twisted the shield and knocked it aside and in a different direction in the sky. "Looks like we are pretty even," said Lord Death looking down at Vigrid, "ready to call it quits?"

Vigrid stepped forward, swinging his sword around and firing another Madness Wavelength at Lord Death's head. Lord Death brought his two hands down to block the slash and absorb the damage. His hands were forced to the side, he was barely able to even protect his body from the heavy blast. "What kind of warrior would agree to that?"

"Remember that," said Lord Death as he shot forward towards Vigrid. Vigrid wasn't about to hold back either, he came blasting over to Lord Death as well. The two met in midair and immediately a vicious fight ensued. There was a rapid clashing as the two brought flying elbows and powerful hooks into the exchange. Neither side was going to back down, there wouldn't be a second when the two would unanimously agree to back down now.

A straight from Vigrid came smashing towards Lord Death, Lord Death swerved to the side as quickly as he could, but he still felt the strong breeze emanate from the punch. He twirled around and brought a knee into the side of Vigrid's face, he continued the rotation and brought one knee after another soaring towards Vigrid's head.

Lord Death was surprised as he felt a heavy hand clasp onto his leg. The monstrous Vigrid lifted Lord Death into the air and began to rapidly spin him about in the air. Finally, he loosened his grip and let the Shinigami fly into a building. Immediately following that powerful toss was an incredible blast of his Madness Wavelength. It ripped through the air and gouged out the earth as it grew closer Lord Death. It ate through the bottom of the building in one fell swoop. It destroyed it without a second thought; even the space behind it was obliterated. Vigrid smirked as he slowly began to walk to the building to check on the probably dead warrior.

Suddenly something happened that Vigrid had never counted on. It slammed into the side of Vigrid's head, throwing his head to the side and disappearing instantaneously. Vigrid let loose a primal roar as he twisted around to see who was foolish enough to shot at him! No human, witch, or Kishin should ever be that stupid. No one.

Michael stood there with his trustworthy bow in his hands. His appearance wasn't one that inspired confidence; there was a clear look of fear sketched across his face. He knew that he definitely couldn't handle the monster, it was more of an attack out of desperation than anything else. The monster was about to crush his teacher, it would've taken too long for him to come up with a better plan.

"Good plan, Michael," said Xander as Ash came up next to him, "I agree with the idea of hitting him, but I'm none too fond of the idea of letting him beat the crap out of us. Next time don't try to kill him before we plan out how to actually kill him."

"Your friend is right," said Vigrid as he rotated his entire body around to face the group of kids. He approached them with a wicked grin on his face and his monstrous sword in hand. He flew forward for them, his entire mass came crashing for them.

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><p>I'm running out of title ideas...and possibly plot twist ideas. This is what the third time I have switched who was fighting Vigrid. Oh, well, I just wanted the kids to take a crack at him.<p> 


	62. Chapter 61 The Kids Step In

**The Kids Step In**

Michael stood there for a few more seconds, his hands hadn't moved yet since he had released the arrow for Vigrid's head. The Madness Wavelength of Vigrid was still swirling around his head. Vigrid was still launching himself for them, his hulking mass coming crashing for the group. Michael knew he had to move, but something told him to stand there, fire an arrow at Vigrid, hit him! Kill him! That idea was tossed out of his head as he was thrown to the ground as Melody tackled him, sending them crashing to the ground.

"G-get your head in the game," said Melody with a slight quiver to her voice. It was obvious that she wasn't quite her normal sure-fire self. Her brain was dying on her. The Madness Wavelength of Vigrid was filling her head with horrible scenes, unlike Michael it wasn't propelling her to fight, she could feel her body clench up in fear, something that she never felt before. Even against Marburg, she never had this same feeling. Vigrid was a monster…a monster that could kill them all…and her body knew it. Her rational mind being reduced to something similar to mass of jelly, she highly doubted she could tackle Michael again.

Vigrid stopped and twisted around, turning to face the group, he heaved his sword up and into the air and then with one tremendous sweep, he brought his sword crashing down for them. They both dove out of the way, they knew they had no other option, standing still was the same as signing your death warrant. They needed to stay on their toes, one hit would probably be the end.

Ash rushed Vigrid. He felt like Melody, he felt his muscles clenching up. A voice in his head, screaming at him to turn around, but he couldn't. He had to move forward and help his friend. Ash dug his heels into the dirt, swinging forward; he fired a single punch for Vigrid's side. Vigrid had saw it coming from a mile away. He swung around, bringing a rising knee into Ash's gut and throwing him back and through the air. Vigrid rotated around, he brought the side of his blade smashing into Ash and flattening him into the ground. Vigrid lifted his foot up about to smash into Ash's body.

Mischa's shark-headed whip flew forward, wrapping around Ash's arm and dragged him out of the way. It had immediately become obvious that they were outmatched, outgunned to the extreme. The monster had nearly killed three of their friends and so far the only time they hit him was with a surprise attack. They had to retreat…this was a truth in all of their heads, but none of them felt the strength to do it.

Their legs were clenching up at the sight of the monster and those who didn't felt a welling rage. One that blinded them and made them wanna rush Vigrid. It was miserable fact, they couldn't move….they were frozen…they were screwed.

Vigrid moved forward once more his blade arced through the air and was brought crashing back down for them. Semper's chain wrapped around the blade at the last moment and slightly delayed its crash, giving Mischa and Ash the few precious milliseconds they needed to run. They were already breathing heavily; the pressure was intense and pounding into their young bodies like a tank every second. What could they do?

"Hey, pig!" shouted Saul flying forward with a kick aimed for Vigrid's head, "I thought I made myself clear. I have dibs on you after Lord Death!" Vigrid brushed the kick off and grabbed onto Saul's body, pounding him into the ground. Saul produced a small knife, he had kept on him in case he ever did get separated from his weapon as he was now. He brought the knife into the back of Vigrid's hand and causing him to roar back from the sudden and unexpected pain.

"Hey, kids…run," said Saul standing up with obvious pain stretched across his face. He probably had a broken rib on top of a possibly fatal disease coursing through his veins. "I can hold him…three, maybe another four minutes. That's enough, right? To get some place safe?"

"What!?" shouted Shi, still in his yo-yo form. "We can't leave you here! Aren't you sick?! We can't let you die here! I'm supposed to kill you when I get bigger!"

"Don't make me laugh," muttered Saul as he tried to suppress it. It hurt for him to even smile. "You can't take me down…and you sure as hell can't hurt him." Saul nodded towards Vigrid who was ready to continue the thrashing and it was obvious he wasn't about to wait. Vigrid charged. Once more with a carefree smile, that was well worth the pain in Saul's opinion, he said, "run."

"DUCK!" shouted Michael as he fired another arrow past Saul's head and at Vigrid. Saul threw himself to the ground and out of the way out of instincts, the arrow flew forward and right for Vigrid's head. It would've pierced his skull if Vigrid hadn't swatted it out of the way. Vigrid's thick muscles provided an armor against even Michael's arrows.

"Are you insane?" asked Saul giving Michael a quick whop to the head. Saul immediately regretted, not only was his hand probably broken from the constant battering it had received from Vigrid's rough-housing, but also Michael was a golem, the insane hardness of his body only served to further break Saul's hand.

"I don't think a single one of us is willing to leave you behind," said Michael as he drew another arrow and took aim.

Vigrid fired another powerful blast with his Madness wavelength sending a powerful rippling red aura through the air. The gang each dove into opposite directions, barely avoiding the blast. They paused for a second as they looked back at the damage the blast had sown. The earth had been gutted leaving a massive trail of upturned earth and burnt debris where the blast had shuddered through.

"Are you still sure?" asked Saul as he struggled to his feet, his own two legs shaking like jelly. Not due to fear, which Saul would insist he didn't feel, but due fatigue. Just watching those blast and feeling the wind from Vigrid's swings would drastically cut down on your lifespan. "He's not holding back, none of the Kishin simulations you have done in class or even the Evil Humans you've battled can possibly measure up to this guy."

"Did you forget?" asked Shi giving Saul a not-so assuring thumbs-up in his reflection, "We are the ones who beat Marburg!" Saul wanted to point out that the ones who beat Marburg was Quill, but he didn't really care to bring up that he was also beat up by that bastard witch. If he survived this ordeal, he would have to go training as hard as he could. He didn't want these kids to show him up…so what if his age was catching up with him? He could overcome something as trivial as that!

"Fine," said Saul, "but if you die, don't come crying to me cause I don't want to hear it." And on top of that crying zombies seem fairly creepy. Saul charged forward for Vigrid. Despite the fact that he felt like the smaller one amongst these kids, he also felt like he was the best fighter in the group. He had to distract Vigrid. However, he had only got half way to Vigrid when Ash zoomed past him.

Ash moved forward and quickly closed the gap between him and Vigrid. He quickly entered into Vigrid's space, he dodged the initial blow due to his lighter body. Vigrid's mass ensured the fact that Ash was probably going to be faster than him. Ash was quickly on his side, but he was surprised when he was already face-to-face with Vigrid. Vigrid brought his blade screeching across the air for Ash's head. A weighted ball from Semper alongside both Melody's yo-yo and Mischa's shark headed whip. Vigrid twisted around, redirecting his sword away from Ash and into the volley of weapons swatting them all aside.

However, Vigrid did not completely take his eyes off of Ash. He used his swords to deflect the volley of sharp weapons, but he only deemed one hand was needed for such an action, leaving his second hand free to thrust forward and knock Ash backwards and away from him. Ash barely managed to bring Xander's metal body in front of him in time to protect his human body from the heavy thrust of Vigrid's massive bulky arm.

Ash skidded backwards, trying to steady himself. Vigrid turned around about to continue his strings of attack, but instead he was met with Saul, rushing in to defend his student. Without missing a beat Saul quickly brought his leg in and aimed it for Vigrid's head. Vigrid laughed loudly as he brought his own hand in and blocked Saul's kick, swatting the poor teacher aside and to the ground. With his arm super-extended with the swat he was thrown slightly off-balanced.

That was the only opening Michael needed to let a single arrow fly towards Vigrid's face. With his entire body turned and thrown behind his slash in all sense he shouldn't be able to block or avoid the shot. Of course, massive muscles and a big freakin' sword were far from Vigrid's only trick. A resonating blast of Madness Wavelength completely decimated the flying arrow reducing it to nothing mid-flight.

With all the weapons aimed at him neutralized perfectly, he stood back up and straightened himself out. "You guys all came at me once, huh? Don't you think you could've been a little bit more for fair play? I mean I am only one person against all of you, aren't I?" chuckled Vigrid looking on at them. True it was six versus one, but he didn't truly mind it. The advantage in skill, strength, and in almost every other category was clearly in his favor. "Do we need to continue with this boarish behavior or can we just call it a day?"

The only response was a single unanimous onslaught of weapons, yo-yos, arrows, blood daggers, sickle, and a whip. All of which were simply batted to the side by Vigrid's hulking blade. "Come on at least try and act civil," mocked Vigrid as he lifted his other arm up, another red ball of swirling Madness Wavelength was gathering in the palm of his hand. He fired it, not really even bothering to aim. It wasn't really worth the effort. He watched them all scatter in various directions, desperate to avoid the fatal blast. They were finally acting like the cockroaches he and Marburg knew them to be.

Vigrid spared himself one more look over his shoulder at the building where Lord Death was, probably lying limp and unconscious. He thought about going over there and finally dealing the last blow, but then again would that really be enough? Just death?

Marburg was trapped for three millenniums in a small, dark space, Vigrid had watched on as his brother was beaten by another, and they were both expected to wait and abide in these imperfections' world. He felt like Lord Death would be getting off easy if his only punishment was a simple death. Perhaps after he level his precious city and academy he would wake him up, give him a few precious moments to take it in, then kill him.

An eye for an eye. Wasn't that the true way of war? Retaliation against someone for something and it usually included an escalation of some kind. Vigrid could think of no better escalation for the imprisonment of one's own kin than the burning of one's city. His attention swiveled back around to Saul who was just standing up again. His Soul Armor had helped him once again weather the fierce blow and stand up again, but what did he stand up to? A giant with a sword? A one-in-one-million-chance of winning?

* * *

><p>Even Saul's usual boundless confidence has been shattered to pieces. Vigrid's true twisted personality is shining through now. We already know of his twisted Soul, but now we get a true insight to Vigrid's mind. And I make him seem like a child...two or three more chapters until the end of the Vigrid arc!<p> 


	63. Chapter 63 Fight Drags On

**The Fight Drags On**

Ash stood up dazed. The blast had the same strength as a small hand grenade, it had blown apart the ground and now as he tried to stand up again he was still woozy from the force of the blast exploding. He couldn't quite focus and the world was still a blur. There was one blur he recognized, its size and hulking blade in its hand. It was obviously Vigrid. Ash charged into the distorted world and lunged madly for the massive blur. He heard a laugh as his charge was swatted to the side and away. Ash stumbled for a few seconds, unsure of what quite had happened.

Suddenly his legs cramped up just like they did when he first met Vigrid the overwhelmingly powerful Madness Wavelength crept into him and forced him to the ground in a fit of terror. He remained lying on the ground, his face buried into the hardened cement as he tried to regain control of his body. Xander was still strapped to his arm and he turned around to see Vigrid standing above him, with the weighty sword held high above his head with the threat of slamming it down.

Suddenly Vigrid brought his sword in, swinging it down with enough force to split a truck in two. A huge dust cloud was summoned up in that instant, it expanded instantly engulfing Vigrid and temporarily locking him away from the outside world and preventing him from seeing anything on the outside world, including anything that would be coming in. Suddenly his hand snapped backwards, smacking into an arrow and sending it flying away. He smirked at the young man who must've fired the arrow into the mess, if only he knew about his own heightened senses. Even without his eye sight there would be no surprising him. He could hear the arrow zoom through the air as it approached his head, he could sense the killing intent behind the shooter.

Vigrid smirked and turned around to face the direction that the arrow flew in. He wasn't fond of this dust cloud, but it made for a nice handicap at least for the minute or two it would last. He already knew that somehow they had saved their precious little friend from being split in two, the reverb in his sword was wrong, he didn't feel that all too familiar sense of cutting through flesh and bone. He took a step forward and that seemed to be the signal for the rest of the group to release another salvo of their weaponry at him.

Swaying backwards, he avoided the first arrow. Brought his sword up and swatted the next scythe that flew in. Vigrid moved forward, when the next blow came with the whip he reached forward and grabbed onto it. He reeled in Mischa, bringing her face-to-face with him for a second, Mischa panicked once she met the monster and launched a powerful side kick to Vigrid's head. Sadly, due to her lithe frame and horrid position she couldn't do any real damage to the mass of evil in front of her. Vigrid 's head didn't even budge from the kick.

Vigrid stepped forward, lifting Mischa into the air and then he brought her back down smashing her back into the ground. Mischa let out a temporarily gasp of pain as her body hit the cement, and hit it hard! Vigrid lifted her back with the intent of doing it again, but as soon as she left the ground another weapon came flying in at him, a yo-yo. Vigrid ditched the poor girl, tossing her over his shoulder. He then smacked his hand against the flat part of the weapon, seemingly rash, but at the same time being extremely cautious not to hit the blades extruding from it, and he sent it sideways. He then grabbed a hold of the string a little further up and was about to pull on it.

"Soul Resonance!" shouted Melody and Shi in perfect unison. Flames exploded from Melody's hand and shot down the yo-yo's string, burning everything in the way. Vigrid's hand just so happened to be in the way. His own hand burst into flames instantaneously. His wall of muscles did not help him fend off the vicious flames. Vigrid wrenched his hand free from the flaming wire, shaking the flames off. His hand was admittedly singed to a crisp due to the surprising tactic that the kid had thought up.

Vigrid smirked as he realized that the kids were actually through some unknown miracle were putting up a decent fight. Even he wasn't omnipotent, fighting multiple opponents was never his strong suit, but even now as he was trying his best to beat them, he felt that welling joy he once had during a fight. Was Lord Death merely an appetizer for these kids? He couldn't believe that that thought had even entered his mind. He once thought of Lord Death as an equal, but now? Now he was comparing him to a group of over-zealous kids.

The dust cloud was just now clearing, revealing Vigrid, standing strong, proud, and without a care in the world anymore. "Come on," encouraged Vigrid welcoming the group to come at him and try to defeat him. The kids didn't seem too over eager now. Not after the fate that had awaited both Ash and Mischa. He looked over and saw both Ash and Mischa had managed to somehow stay alive. Ash had managed to scramble out of the way before being split and from his new vantage point, he managed to save Mischa, catching her in his arms.

Vigrid brought his arm up, sending another wave of Madness Wavelength crashing towards them. Ash quickly tossed Mischa to one side and then darted to the other. Mischa landed on her feet and broke out into a run out of the way right off the back. The Madness Wavelength destroyed the ground that they had been standing on, tearing up dirt and stones as it made its path.

Ash drove to the side and he apparently didn't learn his lesson the first time. He quickly dashed forward, trying to get into Vigrid's personal space without holding back. Vigrid laughed loudly, swinging his heavy blade around like a twister. Ash jumped back to avoid the blow, blocking the blow would be the same as tearing his own arm off even with Xander's metal plating. It sucked that he was the only one, asides from Saul, who has had years of training, that had to get face-to-face with the monstrous giant before him. Everyone else had a long distance weapon. Ash just took another deep breath and rushed in to meet with Vigrid.

Vigrid brought his palm forward, forcibly smacking Ash back and sending him away with a single heavy blow. Ash swung to the side of his arm and went in closer. Due to Vigrid's massive size he had a much longer reach then Ash did, so for Ash to get into striking range he must first wade through Vigrid's striking range avoiding any and all blows that Vigrid sent out.

Before Ash could get close enough to Vigrid a stray elbow caught him in the side of the head, causing him to spin out once more. Vigrid moved forward intending to take advantage of this moment, but another arrow whizzing towards his head needed to be stopped first. He swung out with his heavy sword knocking the arrow away and was immediately met face-to-face with Saul. With his arms still hyper-extended from his swing he couldn't bring them back in time to defend against Saul's salvo of punches. Each punch hammered into Vigrid's body slowly forcing him back. While Vigrid barely felt each individual punch the numbers were slowly piling up on him.

Suddenly Vigrid lashed out with his leg, smashing it into Saul's unguarded abdomen and lifting him off of the ground. Taking another step in, he brought his elbow down into the back Saul's head. Saul plummeted to the ground, hitting it hard. Vigrid lifted his foot up, about to bring it crashing down, crunching Saul's bones to bits. At the last minute, Mischa's whip wrapped around Vigrid's other leg and she yanked it out from underneath him. Vigrid caught himself before he fell shamefully onto his face, but the attack bought Saul enough time to climb out of the death trap. Vigrid leered over at Mischa, he felt upset that the young girl actually managed to not only survive his attack but then managed to come back and bite him for it. He'd end it here!

He took aim with one hand, a large red ball of pure madness built up in his palm. Suddenly he let it fly forward. The small dense ball showed no intention of letting the poor girl survive the devastating blow. Michael loaded an arrow quickly, he fired a single shot it hammered into the ball upsetting its trajectory only slightly, but it was enough to save Mischa from a horrible fate. The ball still caused damage, however, as it came crashing into a wall, obliterating it into dirt.

Vigrid still had his second hand. He brought his other hand forward and fired another quick shot towards Mischa. A flurry of her whip upset the shot, sending it in a different direction saving the poor girl once more. One close call after another, each time he had fired another blow against trying to end her without holding back. It was a horror story from where she was sitting, each time she witnessed a powerful blast closing in on her. Her throat had clenched itself together, slowly drying itself out as she sat there watching each and every blast close in on her.

She willed her legs to work, barely managing to scramble onto her own two feet and rush away from the monstrous Vigrid. She didn't bother turning around and keeping an eye on Vigrid, she just wanted some distance between them. She stopped once she felt that they were far enough away from him. She turned around and to her surprise she found the monster was already right behind her. Vigrid's speed was not something to laugh at, Mischa swung wide with her whip. All of her training had gone out of her body, replaced with fear. The whip cut through the air and only the air, the shark headed whip missing Vigrid by a mile.

Vigrid's wrist snapped forward, sending his massive tree trunk of an arm screaming for Mischa's head. Mischa quickly swerved to the side, tiring of the continuous attacks on her and only her. She didn't know how much longer she could keep it up, the continuous dodging, attacking, running, combined with the intense pressure that was weighing down on her she was losing it. All of her mental and physical strength was gone. Part of her felt the rising desire to just surrender…dropping to the ground and letting Vigrid's sword end it. Any and all mental strength she had was gone, crushed, demolished by the overwhelming madness that Vigrid emitted.

Mischa suddenly felt her body lifted up and off the ground. She was carried away quickly and away from Vigrid's man-killing blow. Mischa looked up at her savior to see a disgruntled Saul, who was apparently not fairing very well. His breath had grown long and heavier, he was favoring one side of his body. Yet, he still put the welfare of his students first. He dropped Mischa to the ground, almost literally due to his overwhelming fatigue.

Regardless Saul didn't collapse. His own bravado and willpower wouldn't let him. He had been pushed past the limits of his body and was running strictly on spirit. His body was absorbing all the punishment and pain, but Saul refused to back down, especially not when his students were concerned. "Let's finish this guy off. I think we've been taking several hits so far, let's just see how long it'll take us to end it, huh?"

Saul rushed forward for Vigrid now. He wasn't about to wait for Vigrid to make the first move, he'd rather finish it off first. With his back-up he may actually stand a decent chance against this monster. If only Quill or Lord Death were still up fighting.

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><p>Yup, still a fight scene.<p> 


	64. Chapter 63 The Awakening

**The Awakening**

Miles away from the DWMA an even bigger problem was brewing. Vigrid may have been ruining the DWMA at this very moment, but the rest of the world was in an even bigger sinkhole. Aside from Vigrid there were still two other huge forces still moving throughout the world.

Ordinarily most people would've thought that Marburg would've taken more time out. More time to wait and heal his already greatly diminished powers. It was a sad fact for Marburg, but he needed to increase his power and rather than wait for it increase normally, he had a better option. A quicker road to recovery and that was ultimately his goal. To recover his massive energy, he had other plans. It was just simply a matter of absorbing the energy off of regular humans.

However, while Marburg put that as high priority. He still had higher ones. He already had a reunion with two out of his three brothers. A vicious fight with Lord Death's students and a friendly hello to Vigrid. This meant that one of his brothers was still out there. It would take awhile for him to completely heal, so he figured it would be a good idea to say hello first.

It was hard to track this one down though. He was well-hidden, unlike Vigrid who just reeked of Madness and Lord Death who chased him down. This was different. He was hiding. And he was good at it. Marburg and Vigrid would have to show their hand eventually. Lord Death would definitely reveal his position at one point, he built a school in his own spitting image, he insisted on playing 'the hero'. He was a show-off like Marburg and Vigrid both were. This man wasn't as flashy.

He didn't crave the spot light. He didn't care for being famous world-wide. He lacked the morals the others claimed to have. His goal wasn't to cure the planet from the scourge of humans or witches, his interest in both of them have withered over the years. Originally, he had an outlook like Vigrid, just plain disinterest, but over the years Marburg noticed the changes. He gave up. He knew there was evil in the world and in both witches and humans. He decided it wasn't worth the trouble to get involved finishing off one meant the other would obtain free reign. He gave up and went into seclusion. Surely hearing Marburg getting locked away, probably made him redouble his effort to disappear.

It was sheer luck that Marburg caught wind of it. He knew he had a limited window, so he made the effort to come out and meet him. He was coming out to say hello. He wasn't going to talk him into joining him and Vigrid, he wasn't about to join a 'fool-hardy' mission like this. Just let things play out, he'd join if he wanted to no sense in trying to talk him into it.

Marburg was searching through some mountains as it currently stood. He looked up at each and every peaks hoping that another piece of wavelength would leak out. However, Marburg was beginning to doubt that was going to happen. He'd just keep looking around, he was hoping he'd stumble upon him. They had been friends…brothers for several millennia. Marburg knew his favorite places to hide out. He was on the right track. He'd find him eventually.

Suddenly Marburg felt it. The slimy Madness Wavelength creep over him. Marburg instantly noticed that it wasn't an accidental leak, no, it was completely intentional. It was a friendly familiar hello to him. It wasn't that he was trying to scare him off; it was that he sensed Marburg first and was extending a friendly hand to his old brother.

This was different from anyone else's Madness Wavelength. Vigrid's overwhelming Madness Wavelength or Marburg's Wavelength that created a skin-crawling sensation. This was something else. It wasn't like an ordinary one that made somebody feel scared or worried, it was like being drenched in oil with something waiting above you, watching your every move.

Marburg could practically see the imaginary visage before him. The demonic fangs agape in front of him…one hand firmly gripping a knife and the other holding a frying pan. The monster's stomach loudly grumbling in his eardrum. He felt the strong shivers in his body as he tried to steady himself. Marburg may have had the highest magical power and Vigrid had the greatest physical strength, but…in the presence of HIS Madness Wavelength Marburg truly felt small. He felt like his already diminished powers had shrunk even further.

He shook off his uneasiness and moved forward. He wasn't fond of this moment. The moment of highest anticipation. He remembered the old days. Vigrid was always the strongest, but now as he stood in front of this guy after all these millennia's past. He was beginning to doubt whether or not that was true. This was definitely too strong of a soul for any witches or Kishins. This man had changed for the worst...

(-With Vigrid-)

Vigrid strode forward through the mew of weapons that were coming at him. He had absolutely no care for the incoming attacks, why would he care if some pesky flies tried to attack him. Those weapons that were being flung at him barely bothered him, he just kept walking forward. He had his head held high, none of these kids could even bother him. He raised his hand and charged another powerful Madness Wavelength. He slammed it forward at the poor students; the large red mass of energy came at them.

Once more they were forced to scramble away. Vigrid swept his sword through the air as he readied another shot. He flew forward at the group with a renewed desire to defeat them. He was already growing more annoyed at them, he wanted to take them down and prove his power once more. He felt ashamed that he had to take down a couple of poor kids, but in the end he knew that his goal was more important than the ends. They would just grow up to be the dictators, warriors, or murderers of their time just like the rest of their species.

Vigrid sighed. He had grown bored, he separated his two hands and charged up a different blast in each hand. He looked on at the poor students in front of him, he quickly fired off both blast at one of the groups. The only people in the group were Michael and Ash, but regardless the sight of them scrambling away was chilling as the ball flew towards them with incredible speed. Even after Michael landed he still wasn't out of the woods. Vigrid had used two of them and the other was currently flying towards him.

Michael's legs were currently outstretched from his last jump, he tried to propel himself forward once more, but he couldn't do it quick enough. His jump wasn't far enough, he leapt forward once more trying to get away, but he couldn't. The blast was too fast, too powerful and too close for him to avoid it in time. It came crashing forth for him. Michael had leapt out of the way, it hit him, barely, but with the force and power behind the Madness Wavelength it still took away whatever it hit and it hit his leg. It took off everything below his knee on one leg. Michael was sent sprawling to the floor.

Michael looked down at his newly decimated left leg and felt a cold shudder run through him. It was gone. He didn't know how to react. He didn't feel it get ripped off and he was thankful for that, but it was gone. It was completely blown away, incinerated by a vicious blast. He scrambled back for a second as he tried to ready his bow for a shot, but he couldn't. His hands were shaking. He couldn't focus…his hand was shaking. Even the simple act of grabbing his bowstring was difficult. His hand would reach and try to tighten around it, but he just couldn't. If he could still sweat, he would be sweating buckets.

Even without his human senses alerting him to the pain he should be in, he still felt it. There was a strong mental surge in his brain reminding him about all the previous injuries he had ever occurred. Just his memories were starting to burn his leg. Without his leg he was a sitting duck, he couldn't avoid any of Vigrid's next shots.

Vigrid obviously realized this. He wasn't some newbie to fighting, he knew when he found a weakness to take advantage of it without stopping. He would just keep pressing the weakness until he won and too bad for Michael, but he was the weakness. Vigrid charged. His heavy muscles forming a bullet-like casing as he flew forward for the poor archer. Michael admitted it, he would rather be anybody else than himself right now. Watching the monster charge forward for you and you are helpless to stop it. One leg destroyed, his hands shaking and useless, he was out of luck.

Ash stepped in at the last moment, swinging wildly sending a punch with his sharp blade on the top careening for Vigrid's face. Vigrid's eyes went wide as he saw it coming at him, he was still moving forward, his own monstrous momentum was about to be the end of him. He was in a way blinded by his own victory, he didn't have an option. He was moving forward at an incredible pace, he couldn't just stop on a dime. He was moving forward straight for Ash's own punch. If he kept going he would meet with a heavy handed punch with all of his own strength thrown back at him.

Vigrid struck out with his own sword and used it as a pivot to send him, twisting in a different direction. He felt Ash's sharp metal gauntlet nick his leg, but nothing more than that. Vigrid steadied himself once he got away from them and looked at the groups around him. He didn't want to say they outmaneuvered him; more like just simply outnumbered him. Since he focused on Michael, they had moved into good places to surround him after he dodged Ash's punch. Saul had taken up the rear with Semper back there as well, Ash was almost on his left, and both Melody and Mischa to his right, with Mischa closer to his front than Melody was.

Vigrid chuckled at the premise of him being surrounded. It didn't matter how they arranged themselves, it was still a bunch of cockroaches trying to take down a lion. He stood in front of them all and looked around himself. Cockroaches as far as the eye could see. He brandished his sword once more as he prepared to finish them all off.

Vigrid charged forward, his own speed supplying him the additional momentum. He quickly got in front of Saul, arguably the physically strongest and at the current time the weakest of the group. He would finish him off than move onto the rest. A heavy swing from Vigrid's blade came crashing for Saul's neck. Saul dodged back, his million fights worth of experience came flooding into him at that moment. He swayed backwards, causing the heavy blade to cut into the air in front of him. Saul stepped in once more, ducking beneath the heavy blade as it swished by.

Saul sprung up using his legs as if they were springs to bounce up with a renewed force behind his punch. He landed a heavy punch to Vigrid's liver. His power transferred into Vigrid's sore body, forcing him into a slight curve. Another swing from Saul forced Vigrid back as he tried to recover from the reeling liver blow.

Vigrid stepped back and immediately both Semper's and Mischa's weapon wrapped themselves around Vigrid's legs, holding him still. Melody's yo-yo quickly lashed out, wrapping Shi around Vigrid's wrists holding both of his arms steady and in the same position. The restrictions on his legs prevented Vigrid from putting any sort of motion into his waist or he would fall over, without his waist behind his swings his power was sufficiently cut in half.

Ash charged in to take advantage of the tied-up Vigrid. He got as close as he could to the monster. He squatted down, similar to what Saul just did. Ash rose up, sending a powerful upwards stab with his gauntlet. Vigrid fired a quick Madness Wavelength blast propelling him in one direction to avoid the incoming attack. Doing so he also dragged Mischa, Semper, and Melody all into the ground.

This loosened their grips and Vigrid swung his sword breaking free of Melody's yo-yo and then he used his sword to break free from the remaining bonds on his legs. Vigrid smiled as he was now free from the weapon's hold and able to destroy the remaining kids. Vigrid lifted his sword up and was about to bring it back down, when he felt something extremely solid and fast slam into his side forcing him back and through the air.

* * *

><p>Wanted to touch base on the fourth horseman before this arc ended. The Four Horsemen storyline will be taking a break during the next arc to let the kids recoup and recover by fighting someone of lesser repute. Nonetheless I promise exciting twists and turns and one exciting piece of character development that no one has seen coming!<p> 


	65. Chapter 64 Is It Over

**Is It Over?**

Vigrid twisted around eager to see the face of his new attacker. To his surprise it was Lord Death. However, he couldn't be surprised for too long. **"Death Chop!" **Lord Death brought his arm swinging down with a newfound power behind it. Vigrid tried to bring his sword around in time to protect himself, but he couldn't. He was met with a powerful chop to his chest. Vigrid got back up and looked over at Lord Death.

Lord Death was covered in armor now. Vigrid was originally taken back, before noticed a certain special glint in the armor's reflection. It was a weapon! He remembered the young woman he had trapped and locked up at the base. She must've escaped and came here with the rest of the insects! He couldn't believe that such a huge oversight was possible on his part. He should've seen such a twist coming. In the end he didn't expect the kids to be able to handle the Kishins! Why the heck did he enlist those guys in the first place? Good help was very hard to find nowadays.

"You should've finished me off when you had the chance," said Lord Death stepping forward. His armor was bulky and mostly black. He supposed that explained why the Death Chop felt even heavier than before. Vigrid whipped his sword around and aimed it for Lord Death's head. Even if Lord Death's armor provided him with increased defenses, nothing could stand in the way of his powerful swing. Lord Death saw the blade coming and quickly reacted.

Of course, the armor was encumber-some and prevented the normal sways and dodges Lord Death would normally use, but there were other methods to block the incoming sword. A soft block. When he got hit, he rotated with the blow to reduce the momentum and power of the slash to the side. His armor protected himself from the sharp blade's edge and his technique protected him from the brute force behind it.

Vigrid brought his sword back in an instant and backed off for a second. He was a little surprised that despite the rumors of Lord Death being forever imprisoned in this city, his skills had not waned. He still had all of his skills that he had all those many years ago. No, it had definitely changed over these many years, it had become honed. The years away from each other has led to Lord Death becoming wiser and definitely more wide-spread. The school was flooded with different masters of different styles of fighting. The skills were being focused in the school and Lord Death oversaw and studied them all.

Vigrid was amazed at the change Lord Death had underwent. Vigrid would argue that he would've won if he had finished off Lord Death the instant he had the chance, but this attack was started by Vigrid, he caught Lord Death off-guard, he launched ambushes, he forced Lord Death to protect his school with his own body. As far as Vigrid should be concerned they were even. No side had any advantages and no side had any disadvantages.

The fight restarted as Lord Death came hurtling for Vigrid. Vigrid swung his sword in front him and plowed it into the earth. He used the side of his blade as a makeshift shied. Lord Death didn't bother to try to swing out of the way though; he kept coming smashing into the side of the blade. Vigrid felt the momentum and force of Lord Death slamming into, uprooting his sword and forcing both it and Vigrid back. Vigrid skitted back, creating trenches of his feet in the concrete.

Vigrid broke off the instant he felt the force lessen. He swung his sword up, pushing Lord Death off of him. Vigrid leapt into the air and brought his sword back down, redirecting his entire weight and all of his muscles behind the slash. Once more Lord Death created a small death shield out of his Soul Wavelength. When Vigrid brought the sword down, Lord Death tilted his sword slightly to the side to send the sword skidding down the side and away from him.

Lord Death took advantage of this temporary drop in Vigrid's defenses. His hand shot forward, burying itself into Vigrid's chest and throwing him back. Vigrid used the momentum of Lord Death's blow to take some more distance and back away from him. Vigrid lowered his hand and charged up another blast. He fired it as quickly as possible, sending a dangerous red wave of pure energy back at Lord Death. Right off the back Vigrid readied another blast in his other hand and fired it. He repeated this method again and again with each hand, charging a new blast and firing it then charging again.

Lord Death copied Vigrid's rapid fire with his own rapid creation of his shields, one after the other again and again. Each blast was absorbed by one shield. The two were completely equal. Lord Death's shields were not losing out to the immense power of Vigrid's blasts. Suddenly Vigrid was in front of Lord Death, he had used each blast as a cover for him to get in close. And now he was within striking range. His sword came down like a meteor. Lord Death was in a terrible position, he couldn't block from this position and the armor weighed him down to heavily to dodge. He had no methods to nullify the damage at this point. The force behind the blade came crashing into Lord Death's shoulder.

Despite the fact that Lord Death was the one that had been hit, Vigrid immediately backed off. Vigrid stretched out his sword arm. A tricky move on Lord Death's part. Rather than blocking the blade where the most momentum had built up, he moved in and fired a punch for his upper arm. It had cut his sword arm's momentum down as well as dealt heavy damage to his arm. His arm was shaking from the blow. It was a bad hit for him. He would need to weather it for the time being.

There were still other techniques left in Vigrid's repertoire. Vigrid tossed his bulky sword to the side. He appreciated the devastating power it held, but sometimes he found it unnecessarily hefty. He had fought for eons without it and now he would prove once more that the weapon didn't make the man. Vigrid flew forward, ordinarily the weight of his sword would slow him down due to its unnatural bulk, but now without it, he was moving at speeds that surpassed his old. He was immediately upon Lord Death firing a series of quick, but still very powerful jabs. Lord Death brought up another one of his little shields much to Vigrid's chagrin.

However, each of Vigrid's punches still wore heavily on the shield, breaking it further apart with every hammering blow Vigrid released. The continuous gatling gun of punches was pushing both Lord Death and his shield to their limits. Lord Death quickly stepped in throwing his shield away in order to engage with the monstrous Vigrid. Once in close enough range he fired his own punch, burying his bulky hands in the wall of muscles that stood before him. Of course, the attack didn't end there a strong bolt of Soul Wavelength exploded from Lord Death's hand and into Vigrid's musculature. Vigrid's face twisted in pain for a second, he quickly threw out a powerful punch forcing Lord Death to separate.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" said Saul as he stretched out on the ground, his body finally giving out on him. "That monster still has the strength to fight. We've forced him to the ground time and time again. He fought me, Quill, Lord Death once as well as you kids…but look at him. He's still going, his punches are still strong enough to send shivers down anyone's spine. If only he wasn't so twisted, he could've become an invaluable ally."

"Yeah, but now…now he's the worst enemy," pointed out Ash as he looked up at the fight. He agreed with Saul. Vigrid contained not only an amazing amount of power, but his sheer stamina was to be praised as well.

Vigrid fired a random kick at Lord Death. The Shinigami knew better than to take a blow from the monster, however random it was, and brought his guard down to block. The kick shuddered into Lord Death's guard, the armor doing little to nothing in the way of absorbing the blow. Lord Death was about to bring his arm out to fire his own punch, but another medley of punches from Vigrid forced Lord Death to think only about blocking.

Their teacher was forced into a ball with his guard up as he weathered through the continuous heavy blows of Vigrid, the monster who just moments earlier had forced them all into a corner. Lord Death felt his guard grow close to shattering. The heavy power behind it was all too much. Even iron would break if it was hit like this. In this continuous volley fashion, especially if the one behind it had this much power to his blows. Each blow was enough to force him back in its own right, but Lord Death had to make it through them all.

He felt each blow hammer into his arm. He was starting to grow weary again. He didn't know how much longer he could keep this up for, was he really about to lose? He wouldn't be surprised. If there was any monster on this planet capable of beating him…it was Vigrid, he knew he couldn't take Kishin's lightly, but Vigrid was just so much stronger than any Kishins he had ever fought. And that may have been it. Lord Death may have had to just admit defeat right then and there…if it wasn't for what he was fighting for. The kids.

Lord Death lashed out. Landing a single awe-inspiring blow to the monster's gut. The blow was good, better than anything else before it. It caused a rupture in Vigrid's smooth movements, his previous heavy attacks halted in an instant. Lord Death drove in closer, lashing out again and again. A series of powerful blows to Vigrid's body. The advantage had been switched. It was no longer Vigrid in charge, but Lord Death.

The tide of the battle had been completely reversed in a matter of seconds. Lord Death's lithe body and speed were lending themselves to the sudden upset. A body blow to the side, a hook to the face, a chop after a chop after a chop! Each blow resonated into Vigrid's body with more force than the last. Even if Vigrid was still at full-power it would be doubtful that he could survive this hurricane of attacks. Each blow hammered into him with renewed energy as Lord Death remembered his resolve.

Lord Death closed in unleashing a melee of attacks upon Vigrid. Vigrid weathered through them all. His thick muscles forming an almost shell-like existence around him. Lord Death continued with the heavy-handed chain of attacks. Vigrid was just taking them all, waiting. He hadn't given up, yet, he was just biding his time. He was waiting for the perfect time to send his own fist flying. When Lord Death swung too wide or he made too big of an opening then he would finish Lord Death off.

The attacks kept coming, kept burying themselves into his thick muscles. The punches were flying and destroying the man's muscles again and again. Vigrid was slowly being pushed back. Despite Lord Death's fiery rush, he wasn't revealing a single opening. His attacks were flying and hitting harder than ever, but his guard never dropped. There was never a moment when it just opened up, not even for a second. Vigrid's only hope was that he could weather through these blows long enough to see the light. And he did.

A brief moment opened up. His arms flew a second wide, perhaps in an effort to deal more damage and finish him off, but regardless of the intention it was open. Vigrid's muscles pulsed as he fired a quick, yet powerful punch straight through the flurry.

* * *

><p>I guess its not over yet. But it will be! The next chapter promises to bring an end!<p> 


	66. Chapter 65 The Aftermath

**The Aftermath**

Vigrid's punch sailed through the blizzard of punches that Lord Death was sending out. His punch was perfectly timed to be uninterrupted and crash into Lord Death's face, turning the tables in an instant. His punches were heavy and worth hundreds of Lord Death's much weaker blows. It would've happened too. He would've turned the tables in that instant, but a small miscalculation ended it. He had been whisked away to the time when it was just him and Lord Death sparring with each other with Marburg and the others watching.

But it wasn't like that anymore. Was it?

Lord Death's armor slipped off of him, turning back to her human, Myrrh was moving forward. She brought her own fist forward and into Vigrid's face. While there wasn't enough force behind her punch to finish him off, his punch was stopped. He was distracted long enough for Lord Death's next punch to come in. His small intermission had disappeared in an instant. His attacks picked back up and continued. Each blow moved in quicker and quicker. Vigrid's arms were in no position to block. He couldn't protect his body from the numerous blow as each and every one came flowing in again and again.

"DEATH CHOP!" Lord Death's arm spun into the air as he prepared his finishing blow. It came chopping down, smashing into Vigrid's body sending it crumpling to the ground. Lord Death was breathing heavily. He hadn't counted on Vigrid's emergency counter coming in at the last second. Vigrid wasn't someone who would try to win through tricks, he would rather butt heads again and again in a test of strength. To use a last second blow on an unsuspecting foe wasn't his style. That's what made it so perfect, an attack that Vigrid would never use was going to be the attack that finished it.

Lord Death sighed as he went over his fallen brother's body. "I apologize for doing this. I never wanted to do this, but it is the second time I had to do it to someone…someone I considered to be my brother even…I'm…I'm sorry." Lord Death pulled out the Prison Jar. It was meant to re-trap Marburg again, but Vigrid had been an unforeseen interference. Here it is that he had to stop him from ever wreaking such havoc ever again. The small jar opened up, almost creating a black hole that dragged all things around it closer. The unconscious body of Vigrid was lifted up and into the jar. The jar's lid quickly slammed back down, sealing itself shut. "I'm sorry."

(-weeks later-)

"Been awhile since I worked on a golem," said a young man as he slid his two large goggles off of his head and looked back down at his handiwork. It been a hard to repair anything these days, Michael's legs were no exception. The majority of the city was in disrepair and needed work. Without his legs Michael had basically been in the way while he waited for an engineer to become free. And finally one had freed himself up and had enough time to finish the work on his legs.

The man got up and left. He was whistling to himself happily, probably thinking about the large paycheck coming his way. Not only did he help repair numerous buildings, but he also worked on a golem. There would be one hefty bill coming to him…and out of Michael's hide. Oh, well…it was worth it to be on his own two feet again. Michael shifted himself forward and landing on his own two feet again. It felt great!

It had been weeks since he had been on his legs! He may not actually feel it, but nonetheless he was more than happy to kick his old wheelchair to the curb. The blasted thing was a hindrance to him, he was happy to finally be on his own two feet again and no longer relying on Xander or Ash to wheel him around. Ash always complained about the dirt on the handles and Xander thought Michael's chair was a race car or something.

A quick roundhouse kick through the air made him feel as light as a feather again. He smiled as he quickly made several other kicks into the air giving his legs a quick tryout. He was eager to get out and get going was a loud buzz as Lord Death came back on, probably to repeat the same message he had been playing for the past week.

"Well," said Lord Death over the intercom. "Due to the reconstruction we highly advise that all students leave and go back home for the time being." Michael was right it was the same message. Not only was the majority of the building destroyed due to Evil Human attacks as well as Vigrid's massive hammering of attacks, but a lot of the merchants were having trouble restocking their shelves due to how quickly they shuffled out of here in the first place.

Michael hummed. He and his friends had been giving a longer grace period due to his current lack of legs, but now that his legs were fully fixed he was expected to leave…and go home. Go home…Michael sighed as he looked back down at his body. Go home? Looking like this? His body had been destroyed…the chance of him returning to normal slim, but he was expected to go home?

He felt like punching a hole in the wall. He tightened his grip as he walked closer to the wall, giving the notion serious thought. He leaned back, readying his fist for the punch. And he let it fly. He held back a few centimeters away from the wall. He didn't want to cost Lord Death any more money when it came to repairing these buildings.

Michael looked down at the ground. His new legs which had, just moments ago, been a source of happiness were now the greatest source of despair. The big clunky feet of stone that were at the end of massive, thick trunks that he called legs. It was a shame, because if he had been a normal human no doubt that last blast would've ended him the fact that he could stand was due to the golem body he hated so.

The curtains around him were pulled back and Michael was greeted by a cheerful smiling face and a quick flash of the peace sign. It was a young lady dressed in a light blue t-shirt that had a wolf printed out on it along with black sweat pants, she had a series of bandages on her head, but despite the pain she was still smiling. It was Eva. Luckily, Myrrh's emergency first-aid had helped out after all and prolonged her life long enough for her to get real medical treatment. She could stand, but like Michael it was suggested that she didn't move too far or too quickly, so she too was restricted to her hospital bed.

They had grown together as friends through that time. She had originally been quiet and rarely talked to Michael, but mentioned before they had both been hospitalized for weeks. When you are restricted to your bed good conversation partners are hard to come by plus they had already been through a lot due to the war. They struck up conversation each and every day at first Eva had just listened, but as time passed she began to open up and now she did most of the talking between the two.

"Good to see you are well enough to leave," said Eva with a little sadness behind her statement. While she was certainly happy that her new friend could walk, she wasn't happy to be all alone confined to her hospital bed. Helena and Rochelle were her only real visitors besides the nurses, since everyone else had went home. Now that Michael was better chances are he'd leave and take his visitors, May, Xander, Ash, and the rest of them with him. Eva accidentally let out her sigh of depression.

Michael smiled. He honestly wished they had switched positions for a second. Going home with his new body was still a large worry for him he felt like he would be turned away at the door by his dad and there was no way his mother would recognize him. "Don't worry," chuckled Michael nervously as he turned around and faced the nurses, "first thing when we get back is have fun! Maybe go to the beach or something!" Michael proudly pumped his arm up to emphasize his health. Although he didn't quite know if he could swim in this form. He never saw a golem before as they weren't too popular in Death City so he had no idea if they sunk like stones.

Eva smiled at the thought. However, the smile quickly disappeared as a small army burst through the hospital doors and tackled Michael. Well, Shi tackled Michael. The rest of his friends seemed to have enough restraint to avoid slamming into their freshly healed friend.

"Everyone, out!" shouted a young woman as scurried past them. "You are disrupting the natural order of things! After the war and now this! Everyone out! Everyone out! Go on!" she continued to scream as she gently shoved the kids towards the door. It was Anais. She was a young teacher that stressed order and schedules over everything else. It was a commonly accepted fact that she had OCD. Of course, that wasn't the weirdest thing about her.

Her attire consisted of entirely Egyptian garments. A tight black top and flowing white silk pants. Her long black hair was hidden by her Egyptian headdress of a cobra. She had dark skin from her heritage. There were rumors about her having jackal ears and even a tail, but those were just rumors. It was silly that people would even think such a thing was possible.

"I'm here to see you off…another great problem in my day-to-day routine, thank you very much!" she barked loudly, she sounded irritated at them personally for it, despite the fact that it was Michael's whose legs got blown off and was in a much worse situation her. However, the amount of care on her face was hidden beneath the layers of annoyance at her upset routine. "Let's go! Let's go! We got to you all on the train and my schedule back on track!"

"Happy days," muttered Xander as he was ushered out of the room. They all waved good-bye to Eva who was sulking in bed about being left all alone again.

"Okay, get ready to depart, who's going where?" asked Anais as she impatiently rushed forward, pushing them all at a rather uncomfortable speed.

The crew muttered. They had wanted to spend another day or so with Michael when he was all better and make sure he was okay, not rushed out of the room. "I'm going with Michael to his parent's house and then catching another train from there," offered Ash. Michael had almost forgotten that he and Ash lived close together it was basically the sole reason they had grown to know each other. Ash was a neat-freak who spent most of his time busily cleaning himself and others and Michael was an outcast, someone who rarely opened up to others. They needed something in common to bond, it just so happened that it was proximity.

"I'm going there too!" shouted May. Michael was surprised by that. She didn't live close to him. What possible reason could she…?

"Same here!" shouted Shi and Melody chiming in. Xander agreed as well, though less enthusiastically. Anais raised an eyebrow as she looked at the group. She knew for a fact that these six students did not live close to each other, but…if she asked them or looked into their records it would just take up more time…she didn't want to send them to places where they don't belong, but she didn't want to waste any more time and throw her schedule further off.

Oh, well, they were all friends after all.

* * *

><p>Edit: Oh, I apologize for this small mistake! But Anais is an OC sent in by Colossal Fighter GX! I apologize my brains been on the fritz lately!<p>

Finally Vigrid's arc is over! It took a lot to bring that monster down, but they finally did it! Like I said there won't be last Horseman arc next I'm taking a slight break from that doing a short, yet important filler arc to give both me and you reviewers a break. It will just be the original three groups, I'm bringing in the fourth group later.

As a side note, I have finals coming up which means some of my time is going to be devoted to studying rather than writing. Thankfully I have a small backlog of chapters so it won't upset my time too awfully much. However, they may be a day or two late being updated. I apologize for any inconvenience this is to you.


	67. Chapter 66 Home Again

**Home Again**

Michael and the entire group were on the train ride to his home town. He raised his objections, but they promised they wouldn't intrude. The fact of the matter was that this trip home would probably only last one week only until the DWMA is back up and running without any problems. Michael just kept staring out the window while the train traveled down the line. He'd just introduce them to his father and then say good-bye to them after that. Simple.

"Are you okay, Michael?" asked May sensing a little trepidation coming from him. Michael smiled and shook his head, but quickly returned his gaze to the window. May understood why he was in such bad of shape. Ever since the 'incident' this would be the first time since he's returned to his parents' house. May found it horrible to imagine what it would be like. If it was her, she'd definitely be nervous. She sighed…apparently though Michael wasn't in the mood to talk about it. And with him shut away…the entire cabin seemed quieted down. Even Xander seemed to have his boundless energy sapped away being in a place with an atmosphere like this.

"I've never seen Michael's house myself," said Ash trying to create a segue for some conversation to flow. "I've live a couple of towns away and we rode this train back almost every vacation, but I never actually stopped there and got off." Michael glared over at him and that made Ash shut up almost instantly.

"So, that's how you guys met," said May with a slight laugh. She and Michael had met through sheer luck due to her jerk of an old meister. It was after that that Michael had met Ash. Of course, May knew Melody even before she met Michael. So, she guessed their group was formed something similar to Shi and Melody meeting her, her meeting Michael, and then Michael met Ash and Xander. She knew how their group got together, but what about each individual pair? "How did you guys meet anyways?" she asked directing the question over to Melody.

Melody perked up and looked over at Shi, who was running about the train in a child-like excitement. Ze was the only one who didn't seem to pick up on Michael's mood. Melody sighed. "I didn't want to use a regular weapon," she said looking over at Shi, whose attention to this conversation was minimal. "The teacher showed off using his sword…and I just thought, 'how bland is that?' And then when the shock of what I thought came to me, I realized I wouldn't want to use a sword or gun."

(-back in time-)

Melody watched on with the rest of the class, but unlike them she wasn't fixated with amazement. They were all watching as the fight accelerated. Melody on the other hand was growing bored, she couldn't believe that this was really entrancing everybody, but she still found it interesting. She was busy running schematics of what she would do if she was fighting against him. However, without a clear view of her weapon she found it hard to figure it out.

She looked out at the class as she tried to figure out who would be a partner. Almost everyone was riveted to the scene, everyone but one person. Melody wasn't quite sure if it was a male or female, as his back was to her, but he seemed even less interested in the fight then she was. He was staring out the window, probably in some kind of daydream-like state. Melody couldn't blame him and it sufficed to say that this one trait made Melody more interested in him than the others who were fixated like little kids. Melody smiled at this one prospect.

After class, Melody walked out and followed her prospect. She wanted to know more about it and based off of the short introduction she got in class…she knew nothing about him besides his name 'Shi' and the fact that for some reason, he didn't state his gender. Nobody else did, but everybody else was pretty obvious. Melody moved forward with a split second as Shi rounded the corner and left the building.

Melody peered through the slight crack in the door as she looked out. There was Shi underneath a tree, looking up to the branches. He looked like he was quietly contemplating something. Melody had to wonder what it was. Suddenly the young man started to climb the tree up to the top of the tree. "Where's that bird at? He was looking at me funny! I wanna fight 'im!"

Melody couldn't believe this guy's stupidity! What kind of idiot chases after a bird to fig…what kind of idiot chases after a bird for any reason?! She couldn't believe she wasted time watching this idiot act like…well, an idiot! Melody quietly shied away from this scene of unbelievable stupidity. She quickly went back to class to check up on everyone else and find herself an actually 'smart' weapon.

She felt like she had been cheated. Her one promising candidate for her weapon, turned out to be someone with a shockingly low amount of IQ. Once she got back to class, she found herself with a similar conundrum. While Shi seemed like an idiotic stupid fool, the rest of the class seemed mind-numbingly boring. Most weapons she talked to didn't seem to interest her or even worse…they had the worst personality ever. She drifted in and out conversations numerous times, she lost count after awhile. None of them seemed to be intellectual in the slightest.

"TAG!" Suddenly two arms wrapped around Melody's body. They grazed her breasts for a split second, but in the end they were linked together, holding her tight. Melody just barely managed to turn her head enough to catch a glimpse of the Shi fellow. "Catch me if you can!" he shouted as he skipped out of the way. Melody turned around and began to chase after him. She felt like a fool for indulging in this idiot's ridiculous idea, but she was in a bad mood and it was mostly his fault anyway, so she'd just catch him and 'gently tag' him.

Melody quickly lost track of time. The little freak was fast and agile. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't catch him. He was insane in all of his approaches, leaping over teachers, dunking beneath tables, disappearing behind curtains. His strategy was either non-existent or very elaborate.

(-Back to the present-)

"And that's basically why me and Shi are partners," said Melody. "I was too busy chasing him and he was too busy avoiding me that we never actually got to meet the rest of the possible partners for us" continued Melody with a dejected tone, "but it all worked out for the better I suppose. I'm never bored with Shi around, his random winging it style approach and my careful manipulated strategies complement each other."

"Really?" asked May as she looked over at Shi, who still hadn't quite noticed that everybody was talking about mer. Ze was still messing around, running down the train oblivious to the ongoing story. "I guess it does kind of sound like something Shi would do."

"Yeah, but he has actually gotten a lot better since when we first met," said Melody looking over at Shi. "I guess it was just a matter of setting down the rules." The rest of the group looked at each other wondering, how Shi was back then if how he was now was 'better'. "Anyways, What about you Ash, how did you and Xander meet?" asked Melody quickly shifting the conversational spotlight off of her and onto someone else.

Ash and Xander shared a quick glance, but the conversation that went between the two was one that they had had plenty of times before. It was simple. "No," said Ash summing up the result of that conversation. "We have both agreed, any and all discussions on that day will have to wait until we are dead."

"Come on!" shouted Shi, looping hir arms around Ash's neck. "Tell us! Tell us! Tell us!" Hirs little words, very soon became a chant that echoed within the cabin of the train. Neither May, Melody, or Michael was childish enough to join in, but it still appeared to have an effect of Ash who was growing increasingly uncomfortable with echoing words growing louder and louder.

It was only stopped when Xander basically pried Shi off of Ash and threw him halfway down the train cart. "The answer's no!" shouted Xander as he leapt up and after Shi. With the obvious intent to pummel mer into the ground. No one really seemed to be in the mood to leap to Shi's defenses, and figured ze could defend zemself.

"…so ," started up Melody, anxious to remove her poorly chosen partner out of the spotlight once again, "what's your family like, Michael?" Michael paused; he had a look of shock on his face for a second before he returned his gaze to the side and at the window once more. Melody looked over at May, who just shrugged. She honestly had no idea. They had been friends for awhile, but she has never went to his house and seen his family.

She knew his father was a military man and traveled all around the world, but as for the rest of his family, Michael never quite volunteered the information. It wasn't like he and May ever really had a lot of free time to chit-chat. Half of their time was spent fighting Kishins and the other half in class filled with a bunch of other students. They lived in different buildings so they didn't have any night chats. Their time to talk about their personal lives seemed to be very minimal.

(-elsewhere-)

"This Darleen tea is the absolute best," stated a man standing near a window. "The world is coming to an end. You can see it in your bones now." He breathed easily as he looked out at the horizon. "Some people may say it's a shame. People have spent several thousand years building multiple civilizations. We've built skyscrapers, planes, and pyramids. We've done one marvelous job after another and soon…and soon it will be all burnt to ash."

The man was 6 and a half feet in height causing him to tower over the rest of the bodies gathered around his feet. His skin was incredibly pale combined with the heavy wrinkles it made it look like he was encased in a heavy linen. The rest of his body was changed to something much more monstrous. Four sharp claws on each hand, meaning a missing finger. His hair had all fallen out, making him bald. His eyes had lost their color, making them bone white. He clamored around the small room in search of something.

"Where did you disappear to now?" he asked the open room. "You were here just moments ago before I killed these people and…well, I find it hard to believe that you would shy away from this. Anyways, I suppose I should tell you about the end of the world. Ordinarily this wouldn't matter because Lord Death would be holding it back, but Lord Death's era is up! Marburg's back and Marburg was the signal! With him up and activate the other two decided to get their butts in motion! This is our signal as well."

He stopped walking around and crouched down near a table and looked under it. "There you are," he said with a friendly smile. The shadow beneath the table fidgeted and pulled itself free and out into the open. It was a small girl, but she was flat, as flat as the floor and as dark as a shadow. "We need to carve out our own niche. When Lord Death falls so will the rest of the world and fighting over the scraps of a ruined world hardly seems worthy of our abilities."

"So, what do you suggest we do?" asked the shadow, her dark violet eyes were the only color in the black mess on the floor that was her body.

"We go on the offense," said the man. "Lord Death is reeling; Vigrid and Marburg are in recovery. Humans are weak to begin with. If we strike now no one can counter us. We'll win! And if we win now then only thing we have to do from here on out is protect our niche. Our victory is almost assured."

* * *

><p>Another new character now I'm not going to flub this up like I did last time (check the last chapter I did a late edit because I forget to credit Colossal-Fighter with creation Anais). Zhavio and Noelle are the works of...Makuta 52! Seriously speaking the quickest way to a character into a story is to submit a villain.<p> 


	68. Chapter 67 Home Again

**Home Again, Home Again!**

"So where do we being," asked the young girl as her shadow seemed to dance along the floor and onto a wall standing up as much as it could. "We can't take over the entire world, can we? We need to take out a small area, but where would it be…our small niche?"

"Ah ha ha!" laughed the man as he walked towards the window and looked out once more. Beneath them a small train was chugging it was through the plains and towards a town. "Like I said Lord Death will fall…however, I never said Vigrid or the others will. They'll remain standing in three millennia time, so we better get on their side. And who do they hate most of all?"

"Lor…Lord Death?" she asked with a large question mark attached to the end of it. "How are we supposed to take down Lord Death. Vigrid and Marburg both had a hard time with him? If we could take him down, we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with.

"HAH! Another astute observation!" laughed the man as he wiped his mouth clear of a little dust. "True, against Lord Death we stand no chance, but there are ways to screw somebody over without ever meeting them face-to-face. I prefer these methods anyways. Why should I put my neck on the line to annoy Lord Death? As long as Lord Death can't put a face to my name I'm fine, I'm in the clear! So, the next question is how do we screw Lord Death over without ever actually seeing Lord Death?"

"We got after someone he cares about?" she asked again. Apparently she didn't have any solid concrete answers for the man to use. "Is that right, Zhavio?"

"Hah ha! That is correct!" he said with a boisterous laughter as he directed her towards the window. The shadow danced timidly to the window and looked out it and at the train. "Lord Death is a man who never leaves his building, his school. He is completely attached to his work, actually…he is literally attached to it. He can't leave the building, so we can't attack his work and we can't attack his students while they are at the school. So, this leaves us with a brief window of opportunity…luckily, Vigrid provided one for us. We should thank him the next chance we get." The little girl looked questioningly at her 'partner', probably questioning his sanity.

"Once more…probably best if not done face-to-face," continued Zhavio. "We'll take down the same people who drove him insane, who drove a nail into his coffin." Zhavio paused for a second as he took another sip from his tea. "There's also the people who were in charge of further imprisoning poor Marburg…but once again luckily for us they are the same people. The people in the train I've been eyeing and keeping an eye on. We'll take them down, claim their hometown as our new base in the new world, and at the same time become friends with Marburg and Zhavio."

"That's smart…" said the young girl as her shadow dashed to the other side of the room. It flew onto the ceiling and hung there looking down at both Zhavio and the pile of corpses. "But how are just the two of us going to take down an entire city?"

Zhavio paused for a second as he took another brief look out and at the train. "I suppose it's a valid question, Nolle. However, my genius plan did not include just me and you storming a city. Actually, by my calculations we may not even have to lift a finger." Nolle looked up at Zhavio, she didn't understand the reason for his rather absurd thought.

"But if we don't do it, how will we be sure we will obtain the city?" she asked as her shadow moved back over to the window to share Zhavio's sights. "If we get outside help they'd probably just double-cross me…er, us. We can't trust anyone else. We can only rely on us, right?"

Zhavio smirked as he looked out at the horizon. "What if I told you that there was someone else out there, someone who would help us achieve our goals, do most of the heavy-lifting, and isn't smart enough to double-cross us? Would that make you feel good?" Nolle looked up at Zhavio, still lost about his seemingly random train of thought. "Cause there is some…thing like that in the town we're going to."

(-at the train station-)

Michael walked off of the train ahead of everyone else. His brisk pace made it difficult for the rest of the group to keep up with him. May was trying to catch up and talk with him, but even she found it hard, just getting off of a 16 hour train ride, her legs were shaky. Michael's golem legs couldn't possibly become shaky just due to disuse over a period of times. He just kept walking away from them.

Michael had sent them a letter talking about the problematic new body, but Michael highly doubted that they fully understood what had happened. They may have been worldly, but Michael did not remember many golems on their journey. He felt terrified about returning home with his body and the waves of his friends following him, trying to catch up definitely didn't soothe his nerves. He kept heading forward, eyes on the horizon.

They quickly found themselves a cab and hopped on. They drove down through the town and to the outskirts. They immediately came up to a small cottage in the outskirts. May was surprised that Michael lived this far out and away from the city. May was taken back by it all the same though, the house itself wasn't impressive in size, but there was a large field around them. May paused for a second as she thought she saw something out in the field, but was brought back into the cab when Shi shouted something about the house.

"How are you planning to do this?" asked Michael, "just barge into my house without much of a 'hello'? I mean, my family hasn't seen me in awhile. I'm afraid they won't take it too well to suddenly see me and a small army of my friends appearing on their front door." Xander and Ash hushed quietly as they looked away from the house. They knew they were putting him into a bad position, but they didn't quite expect him to snap back at them like that. He was usually the calm one out of the group.

May impatiently tapped her foot as she slowly put together what he meant. Michael was in an even worse position than May thought he would be. She thought they were just coming in and maybe becoming extra dinner guests, but then she realized that that wasn't quite what Michael was upset about. 'My family hasn't seen me in awhile' were Michael's exact words just moments ago. May realized that they hadn't seen him since his recent body swap with a golem. Haven't seen their son in awhile and he comes home…and they find he's been replaced with a robot. It wasn't exactly the hallmark movie story of a lifetime.

Their small cab stopped. Shi started to struggle out of the cab and began to rush to the door ahead of everyone else shouting, "last one there is a rotten egg." However, Ze was soon halted and dragged back into the cab by the combined efforts of Melody, Ash, and Xander. They pinned hir down to the ground just to shut hir up. "Let me go you, you bunch of rotten eggs!" screeched Shi struggling to break free once more.

May moved forward, inviting Michael to take the lead. "We'll wait out here and you…you go and try to smooth things over?" May said with a slight quiver in her voice. She was completely unsure about how to do this, she was stuck here. As far as she was concerned the more she looked at it, the more it looked like a losing situation. Michael nodded and got out of the cab.

He moved to his door and knocked, he tapped his foot nervously. He couldn't believe he was doing this. Chances are if he was by himself, he wouldn't. He would've left and just gone to a hotel to relax for the reminder of the time. He didn't really care to be here right now…like this. He would just say hello to his father, maybe spend the night and then leave. He definitely didn't want to spend any more time here than he had to.

A hacking cough cut through the air and through the door. Michael noticeably stiffened. His feet held fast to the floor, despite his welling dread of whomever or whatever may be approaching the other side of the door. The doorknob fidgeted for a second as the homeowner tried to open the door. Michael looked behind him and at the cab full of his friends, not a one of them knew what he was thinking at this moment as they all stared with bright-eyed amazement, waiting to see what kind of man had given life to their friend.

Michael knew instantly that without a doubt, Shi was probably regaling the rest of the group with stories about how behind the door stood a bear or an evil soul-sucking reaper that was ready to steal Michael's soul the instant the door opened. Michael sighed as he returned his gaze to the door. He impatiently tapped his foot, still trying to find the right words to explain his current situation. Without a doubt it would probably come up at his very first therapy session. The military kid who was turned into a golem and fights demon-like creatures on a regular basis, it was a surprise he hadn't already been institutionalized.

After what seemed like an eternity to Michael, the door finally opened. A seemingly old man was on the other side of it. One hand was still on the doorknob, holding it open, the other had a cigarette that was soon left on his lip as he looked Michael up and down.

"Well?" asked the man after what can only be described as an uncomfortable amount of silence. "What do you want?" May flinched as she could almost hear the sound of what she imagined to be Michael's heart breaking. The golem's shoulders visibly slumped, moments ago they had been rigid with the thought of the worst case scenario and now…now that he was face-to-face with it, his spirit had left his body. "Are you expecting me to let you in my house? You should know your way around here. After all, you grew up here." The cigarette moved up the man's face as he smiled at the young man.

Hope returned to Michael's golem-like eyes as he stared up at his father. He recognized him. Michael could almost hug him, but he knew his father better than most people. He wasn't one for the act of showing affection and even less so with his son. It didn't bother Michael, though, so he just stayed silent, nodded, and did a quick little salute, something his father had taught him when he was young.

The man simply laughed. Of course, he would recognize his own son even without his body, he had been told about his accident almost the instant he heard it happen. Even without that tidbit of knowledge, the man would've known. He could've been a meister if he wanted to be, but fighting Evil Humans was something that bugged him. He would rather just have it out in an old fashioned was with regular humans on both sides fighting with their regular beliefs. That being said, he still had all the qualifications for being a meister even in his ripe old age, including a top-notch soul perception. He was about to welcome Michael into the house once more when he paused looking outside and at the lawn.

"What's the cab still doing here?"

* * *

><p>It looks like the awkward family moment was less awkward, but it seems like trouble is still resting on the horizon.<p> 


	69. Chapter 69

**The Rest of Michael's Family**

Michael tried to hide his face from his father. While most of his friends tried to save face and not make complete idiots out of him, Shi seemed to be going out of hirs way for the sole purpose of embarrassing him. Stuffing half a turkey leg down hir throat without taking the time to chew it. Xander continued along, ignoring Shi's raucous actions, probably believing the best way to rectify this horrible act was to pretend it wasn't happening. Michael had to admit it was better than Melody's action and jabbing hir in the stomach and nearly causing Shi to choke at the dinner table and it was better than Ash's choice of actions, which included frequent bathroom breaks to wash his hands.

Michael just stared on in horror. Michael's dad had never been one for good manners, not to the same extent as Shi was right now, but he definitely was crude. And yet in the present of Michael's friends and colleagues, he was presenting himself as the perfect gentleman. A nice napkin tucked into his collar so his nice clothing didn't get stained, a fork in one hand and a knife in the other. He didn't speak when there was food in his mouth and when he did speak it was in a polite and elegant manner that would've put kings to shame.

The conversation at the table was rather dull. No one said much outside the usual courses of speech, Michael' dad asked about his friends, how he met them, and if they were good guys. His friends asked his dad about Michael's apparent missing mother, what he did now that he was out of war and even to a certain degree what he did while he was in the war. Of course, his father seemed less keen on answering their questions and more keen on having them answer his own.

Finally, he excused himself from the table to go to the bathroom. Since Ash had just returned from probably his sixteenth trip thus far, he probably had a good six minutes until another four or five minutes until a speck of ketchup or drip of gravy landed even near him or god forbid on him, forcing him to beat a hasty retreat to the bathroom to clean-up for his seventeenth time. This at least allowed Michael to take a short breath and looked back around at the serving room of his own house.

The rest of the night went on uneventful, no thanks to Shi. They were all invited to spend the night, but they were planning on heading out the next night anyways. As they didn't want to impose, especially since not one of them really felt like the invitation was extended because Michael's father really enjoyed their company. The invitation was there because it was polite thing to do and as a man of the military he felt a certain desire to uphold such conventions.

It was the middle of the night when Michael began to stir. He pushed the blankets off of him and tried his best to tip toe through the room. He crossed the room without crushing a single one of his friend's sprawling arms. He smiled briefly looking back at Ash and Xander, both of whom were content with passing out on the floor. The girls were in another room and Shi was…Michael had no idea where Shi was sleeping. The little guy could be almost anywhere. That just meant Michael had to keep quiet.

Michael moved throughout the building and soon found himself out in the field behind his house. It was a fairly dark night out, that didn't bother him. The night was quiet calming at his house. There were no prying eyes around at this hour and he was thankful for that. That little bit of privacy that made his visits home a little more enjoyable. He moved through the dark fields and to an old worn out sandbox. Michael had never played in this sandbox, they moved to this house while he much too old for sandboxes. Nonetheless, there was without a doubt a reason that Michael had snuck out in the middle of the night to visit a sandbox that held no memories for him.

He crouched down and stuck his golem fingers underneath the sandbox and with a might heave-ho he lifted it into the air and to the side. Beneath where the sandbox was was a small safe-like lock. Michael bent down and quickly turned it to the side and then back again, wasting no time plugging in the combination and then opening it up. It revealed a tunnel that went straight down into an old bomb shelter. It was old, but well-maintained. The tunnel was clean and reflected the moonlight back up and out of the tunnel. The bars had recently been replaced probably due to a defect in the original. Whatever it was something was down there and the bomb shelter had been well-maintained for that something. Michael slowly began to climb down into the tunnel.

His foot hit the floor with a heavy clang that caused Michael to flinch. It wasn't like anyone was around to hear it, but still Michael feared that the noise may have woken up his friends caused them to stir and notice that he was gone. He stood on the ground for a few second and looked up the tunnel he just traveled down and at the moon whose light shone in brightly.

Michael's finger stumbled across the wall until he finally found a light switch. He flipped it up and almost immediately the hallway came to life in a burst of light. Michael covered his eyes due to the sudden change from dark to light. Michael didn't mind it much and he quickly recovered from the sudden change and kept heading down the chambers. He hit the end of the hallway and found a startling large glass wall, well it would've been startling if Michael didn't know it was right here.

However, saying the glass wall was the most shocking thing in the old bomb shelter was the thing behind the glass wall. The hideously horrible thing behind the glass wall. The thing was close to human, but I was obvious that it was only close to human and nothing more. It was definitely an Evil Human. The thing had sharp talons that extended from every finger as well other various spikes that extended all the way down its arms and legs. It showed its fangs during its next ugly growl. It pressed its sharp fangs against the glass wall as it glared at Michael.

Michael paused for a moment, possibly taken away as he looked around its monstrous body. He paused as he tried to take it all in. The first thing he took note of was the heavy chains that wrapped around its legs and arms. The chains extended back into the wall and was basically welded into it. It couldn't break free from the wall even it tried its best. It stopped close to Michael and quieted down for a second. It made some low guttural sound as it tried to examine him for another few seconds taking him in.

Michael took another deep breath as he looked over it. The monster hunkered down next to the wall. "It's been awhile, hasn't it?" started Michael as he took a deep breath looking over it. Michael sat down onto the floor next to it. The monster flinched backwards for a second, half-snarling, but after a second or two it calmed down, let loose another guttural sound as it began to pace around in its cage, seemingly satisfied despite Michael's intrusion. "How are you doing mom?" The Evil Human turned its head as if trying to take in this information, but it huffed and turned around.

Michael paused for a second as he took a quick breath. It happened while Michael was a kid and his father was in the military on a brief mission. Michael was sent to his grandparents for a few days to live without causing too much trouble for him with his life being uprooted every few months. They decided to let him have a normal school year, too bad that that was the last bit of normal Michael ever tasted.

While his dad was away on a mission one day, his mother was left home alone. That's when the witches invaded. Witches are commonly known for cruel experimentation on people. They would abduct young people in the streets and conduct less than humane experiments on them to satisfy what could only be described as a cruel and unimaginable lust for power. Many witches wanted to evolve their own Kishins, there had been numerous experiments on this in the past and sadly Michael's mom was one of them.

At first the experiment seemed like a bust so they let her out to roam and return home filed away as just another missing person report solved. His father didn't think anything of it as he decided to go into the military and learn about firearms and tanks rather than go to the DWMA and learn about witches and kishins. Their lives went on until it happened. Michael's mom underwent her transformation into the hideous half-beast that was before him today. Of course, Michael drew pause every time he saw her…his growing knowledge of Evil Humans told him to do so, but he soon forgot about that and focused on her human side.

His father managed to trap her. Along with her human body went her intelligence. She devolved into a mindless animal rather than into an all-powered Kishin. He trapped her, sealed away and moved her down here into a bomb shelter out of the prying eyes of Lord Death or any other DWMA students. The bunker was specifically designed for that to reflect Soul Perceptions and block out anything that could give away the hints that he was harboring an Evil Human.

Michael realized that he may be hypocritical, going into the DWMA and killing Evil Humans almost day in and day out while refusing to end the life of the one before him and he rationalized those worries away. This one was locked up. It couldn't harm a fly if it wanted to. It never hurt anyone. It didn't have a choice. But in the end, even Michael accepted the fact that the ultimate rationalization and the real reason was the simple fact that it was his mom, but that didn't change the fact that Michael wasn't going to sell her down the river. He'd protect her and try his best to figure out if there was such a cure to this 'Evil Human-ization' that plagued her. If it can be done, it can be undone.

Michael looked back over at the large glass wall that separated them. There was a small slot for food to go in through there were more small holes gather around it at miscellaneous locations to allow air to flow through to make sure she didn't suffocate. In the back of the room was a slender metal tube that stretched up and into the ceiling and even further upwards and outside to help with the air flow. There were three separate large fans located up the tube to make sure that under no circumstances could anything get in or out through there. Combined with the heavy metal lid as the actual entrance, nothing could get in or out.

Of course, that didn't ultimately round up the defenses of the small bomb shelter. His father was an ex-military man. There were even landmines located in the walls designed to go when a witches' soul enters the chambers. Granted to say that the chambers were still in one piece and as a result, no witches had ever entered the bomb shelter. Why would they? This was out in the middle of nowhere with a crotchety old man guarding it.

Little did Michael know just as he was going over the schematics of this carefully kept secret another group was also discussing it…and exactly how they were going to break in.

* * *

><p>If you recall awhile back I had Enma mention something about how Michael was a 'Kishin Lover'. I think I finally got around to explaining it. Michael's mom has been transformed into an Evil Human by witches, who, of course, wanted to create a Kishin. However, they managed to capture her before news got out to Lord Death and have been trying to keep her alive while they figure out how to turn her back. Obviously, its not going all too well.<p> 


	70. Chapter 69 Vacation

**Vacation**

It was morning and Michael barely managed to find his way back into his sleeping bag in time to get a quick little rest to rejuvenate his body.. He didn't have enough time to move and was rather surprised when no one had so much as moved. They had all remained exactly as they were when he had left. He supposed he shouldn't have been as surprised as he was, after all this was a foreign home to them, but the fact that they were sound asleep was rather surprising.

His visit with whatever used to be his mother went off without a hitch, he guessed. It was a shame he couldn't tell them, but if Lord Death got whiff of this place it was questionable what he would do. There were many stories of Lord Death giving everyone a second chance, but those stories didn't seem like they would apply to his mom. A ferocious killer that had been transformed by evil magic. While Lord Death didn't like witches, his opinion of Evil Humans are usually lower. He rarely seemed to show care of them and have them fill in a questionnaire about whether or not they had become a horrible monster by choice or not.

Even after going back in to see if the crew was asleep, Michael didn't feel too tired. He had rested on the long train ride up here, so that wasn't surprising. He didn't have many other options than to plop down in front of television and watch the news. This was probably what he was going to be doing for the rest of the stay here since the local villagers weren't too open to the idea of someone they knew being transformed into a golem so he probably wouldn't venture out too much.

Nothing else was going on, it was a small town, so it also wasn't surprising, but it felt weird. After fighting off Kishin after Kishin, after all this trouble, it seemed wrong just to sit back and eat waffles. His dad was rather happy having his son and his friend back, he lived on the edge of a small town in the middle of nowhere, nobody really comes around and visits so this was probably the first time in awhile he had company. He was happy and busily working to keep things going well.

Xander and Shi were busying themselves with eating all the waffles Michael's dad provided them with, though, at least Xander was using silverware. And May, Melody, and Ash wanted nothing to do with the sight going on in the dining room and excused themselves to the main room to watch some television. The news had flickered on at this time as was basically customary in the DWMA to check out if there were any Evil Human or witch sightings that they should be made aware of. And it turns out, there was!

A string of murders had apparently occurred in this little town last night. Three bodies turned up all around the town, each with a similar M.O. and strange cuts that the town's own little forensics 'experts' could not identify what kind of weapon had separated the arms from the people's bodies. It was admittedly supposed to be their vacation. Their time in the sun without having to worry about dealing with the irrationality of the Evil Humans after such a big war. But perhaps that was the problem, boredom had quickly settled in. Even just one night on the outskirts of this small town had already dulled the excitement of fighting Vigrid. Even if it hadn't, they were all itching for a win after that fight.

"Shi!" shouted Melody, probably the most anxious of them all to get back to school and leave this boring life behind them. She jumped to her feet and ran to the dining room to witness something she wished she hadn't. Shi positioned hir mouth at the edge of the table and without much care for appearances was raking the waffles in groups of two or three off of the table into hir mouth. The only time ze stopped was to douse them or hir own mouth in syrup.

Melody stumbled out of the dining room and into the main room once more. She wanted to get out and get fighting, but she wasn't too keen on being alone with Shi. And she knew for a fact that her and Xander definitely wouldn't get along and their soul wavelengths definitely wouldn't mesh. Ash got up and got Xander out anyways. This just left her and May left. "Wanna go hunt the Evil Human?" asked Melody hopefully, she really didn't want to remain cooped up in this house for the rest of the week, and this promised to be the most interesting thing that would ever happen.

May tossed her head back casually and looked in at Michael, who had yet to take note of the newsflash and as a result the Evil Human. She realized it seemed petty to drag Michael away from his father, who he hadn't seen in who knows how long just to satisfy her own boredom. "Sure, let's go!" said May, jumping up from her spot. In the very least, she wouldn't have to listen to Shi's monstrous appetite. The two girls quickly went off after Ash and Xander.

After a few hour of investigating on their own and trying to keep a low profile (they didn't want any police asking why two young females were actively searching a mass murderer), they just gradually stopped. It started off with just an interesting handmade clothing store that distracted them from there it was a slippery slope and now they were sitting in a small park sipping handmade smoothies from one of the vendors.

It had been awhile since they could relax like this. It was nice. For once it wasn't about hunting Evil Humans for Kishin Eggs, for once in a long while they could relax and let someone else handle the job. True it was their friends who the duty had been shoveled onto, but they didn't care. This was supposed to a vacation after all, maybe for once in a long while they'd just kick back and enjoy life.

The main problem with this plan was that across town at a small local pool Ash and Xander were coming to the same conclusion. Ash was stretched out on a towel with a book in hand and Xander was swimming about, trying to impress the local lifeguard with his fast swimming. In other words a monster was on the loose and the people who were supposed to fight said monster while swimming and drinking smoothies.

It was their vacation though.

(-With Zhavio-)

The Evil Human was going through the room with a smile. "The delicious scent of a distraction," he said with a cocky laugh soon following it. "They are now going to be chasing after a mindless minion who only concern is murdering the masses, but too bad for them they'll be chasing a figment of my imagination. I feel a slightly ashamed of resulting to such a tactic having to dirty my hands for such a pathetic ruse, but since its been bought so well by those fools, I'll let it slide. They were so easily tricked into buying my little act I almost feel like I should've been an actor instead of an architect!"

"You're not very good at either," brought up Noelle as she looked up at her compatriot. Zhavio looked insulted for a brief second, but he just laughed it off as he continued to walk around the room.

"Well, my job was done fairly easily last night. They are distracted, fooled into thinking a mysterious foe is present in their quaint little town," continued Zhavio, bragging about the fact that they were doing their job and investigating the possibility of the Evil Human, nonetheless, his cocky laugh cut through the air as he continued to bask in his own glory. "And you?" He asked the young girl, walking closer to her. "Did you do your job?"

Noelle nodded solemnly as she toyed with her own hands in the darkness. "I found the secret you wanted me to find. I'll have her out by tomorrow's sunrise as long as I'm not disturbed."

"Ah, and you won't be my darling," said Zhavio as he brought his four claws snapped out as he opened his hand. He brought the four claws raking across the curtain of the gloomy motel they were staying in. "I'll be the one making sure of it." Once more his insidious laugh boomed from his body and into the air around him. The people in the next room would certainly hear him, everyone in the entire motel should've heard him. And every living being did…but that only amounted to a few rats. The rest of the populace had already been butchered in preparations for his big show.

Noelle looked around for another second. "Why this Evil Human?" she asked, breaking apart Zhavio's moment of incredible madness. Zhavio paused for a moment as he looked over at his young ally. He smiled for another few seconds as he examined her worries.

"I know you have very horrible trust issues, especially for someone so young," mentioned Zhavio. He began to pace about as he continued to think about this issue. "I remember when we first met and you didn't even trust me. I extended an olive branch and you cut it in half. After all, these years, all my time spent nurturing you back to what you are now, I would expect a little trust on your behalf. Not in this mysterious stranger X, but in…" Zhavio was sent spiraling towards the ground. Noelle's shadowy arm was sticking up out of the ground, catching Zhavio's foot as he walked about and sent him down to the ground. Zhavio rumpled his mouth into a frown as he sat up.

"I trust you," said Noelle. "No one else. Other people can't be trusted, I know that. I've learned that throughout my entire life. People, witches, Evil Humans, no one can be trusted. They are all evil."

Zhavio chuckled to himself as he had to agree to Noelle's wild paranoia of other people. He didn't trust them as far as he could throw them, which was said just for the simple fact that it was saying that meant zero trust in people, Zhavio had the physical strength to chuck people quite far. "I remember it quite well. When you first opened up to me, you told me how you became what you are now. You told me what it was that transformed you into an Evil Human." Noelle had an obvious look of contempt written over her face as she glared at Zhavio.

"I understand your unwillingness to trust someone or anyone in your case," started Zhavio as he stood back up and walked over to the window, looking out of it and at the horrible scenery. This room probably had the worst view of the entire hotel. Of any hotels, possibly. Beneath their room sat the garbage. The lofty, horrible stench actually waft up and into Zhavio's nose. But he didn't care. "But could you really turn your back completely to someone who came up in the same situation as you?" Noelle entire body floated up right next to Zhavio, hanging in the air.

"You were the luck one," continued Zhavio. His eyes continuously drifting the window, "you may have turned into freak, but you kept shreds of your humanity here and there after the experimentation. Your body is still a dark shadow of your old self, you still have your brain, higher thought processes which makes you human. She on the other hand lost all of her humanity and more." Zhavio made a motion with his hand to the window and the garbage dump below. There was a small family of mice out there, feasting on the cornucopia of piled-up garbage. "Could you turn down someone who is almost like a sister to you?"

* * *

><p>Days off are nice. Too bad for me instead of getting a day-off I decide to a do a bonus chapter. Why? Well, I noticed that tomorrow is the two-year anniversary for Unsound Body. So, bonus update for fun!<p> 


	71. Chapter 70 Out in the Night

**Out in the Night**

Night had fallen over the quant small town. One by one the lights of the miscellaneous shops turned off, cloaking the small town in darkness like no other. The few villagers who had heard the news at some point in the day hurried home through the darkness with a flashlight tucked beneath their arms. A few people have taken it upon themselves to try and beat the monster themselves, they crawled through the streets armed with baseball bats and trash can lid shields. And yet still some people were exiting bars completely drunk and swaying side-to-side like the slightest breeze would be the end of them.

Michael stood nearby. His hands were ready on his bow as he watched the drunkards and the wanna-be heroes alike scramble about in the darkness. He tightened his grip as he surveyed the scene for anyone acting out of the ordinary. He paused for another few seconds as he caught sight of Ash moving silently through the streets, blending into the crowd as much as he could. Michael took note of him and began to look around and find Melody. He couldn't find her as quickly as he wanted to so he dropped the issue, but still made sure to keep an eye out for her.

He didn't actually see the news so he was a bit lost on what to keep an eye out for. He just knew there was supposedly an Evil Human on the loose around here. Since this was his home town it meant that he had a duty to defend it and he would uphold that duty until the day he died. He brought his bow around and took careful aim at one of the drunkards who seemed to be drunker than the rest of them. He paused as he kept it trained on him as he watched him approach a couple of girls, ready to let the arrow fly as a deterrent to the old man. Luckily for him, the old man stopped and moved back away and into the bar for another drink.

Michael lowered his bow as he returned to looking around for the Evil Human. It hadn't been night for too long, but something was wrong. Three murders to take place in the same night seemed odd to him. Seemed…manufactured. It was almost as if someone was trying to make fools of them. Michael shook the thought out of his head. That was even odder. It had to be an Evil Human who got carried away; maybe there was more than one of them. That was a possibility.

He finally caught sight of Melody. She blended well into the crowd of the people who were busying themselves trying to race home. She had her own flashlight and the like, probably figured she could lure whoever it was out by acting like a decoy…or bait. She probably didn't like the notion, but figured it would be their best bet to get him out. A young girl like her whose only tool was a yo-yo and a flashlight was perfect bait for a homicidal maniac. Michael made a mental note to keep a close eye on her to make sure her plan to act like a target didn't take a turn for the worse.

He scanned the area once more with his bow. He didn't see anyone acting suspicious. His shoulders went lax and he sat down on the ledge of the building as he kept a careful eye out. Once more he couldn't help but think how much it seemed like a normal night in the village. He sighed as he dropped his head into his hand and kept scanning the small town. He couldn't believe anyone would do a prank that involved killing three people, so that must mean that an Evil Human was out there in his town and he intended to find it.

(-With Ash-)

Ash had a baseball bat in his hands. He didn't want to seem out of place in the large flowing group of people, so this was what he decided to do to blend in. He had messed around during the day, so he lacked any information that could prove helpful in finding the whereabouts of the monster. He really wished he would've stuck to the research a bit more and tried a little bit harder to find the monster during the day where they wouldn't be stuck out here at night. He mostly blamed Xander for distracting him, but he accepted some fault was his.

He moved through the streets, a careful eye darting from alleyway to alleyway. He kept pace with the rest of the group as they split up and checked the alleyways or other vague branches of town. Once or twice they stopped at a sewer, opened the manhole, and looked in. Whenever they did so it almost made Ash lose consciousness. He felt faint just at the smell of the sewers and the sight of the sludge covered manhole cover. He doubted that even a rigorous cleaning would restore such a disaster instead he just focused on keeping pace with the group.

As they came to another alleyway split the group broke off into three groups one for treading on forward through the streets and two to go down and into the alleys. Ash was supposed to be in the main group, but as he took another step forward. He could've sworn he caught something in the corner of his eye, behind him. Ash spun around and immediately went racing off in that direction. The group wouldn't miss him they had already gone charging off in the opposite direction.

Ash stopped, skidding to a halt at one of the alleyways. Almost immediately he caught sight of another figure quickly skirting off and onto one of the side streets, disappearing from Ash's view by rounding a corner. Ash signaled to Michael before chasing further after the possible culprit. His signal caught Michael's attention, who in turn sent a signal to Melody. The whole group moved over to follow Ash's lead. Michael stuck to the rooftops and other out of the way paths with Ash and Melody covering the ground.

They moved swiftly through the streets like a complete unit. Their long lasting friendship had been strengthened throughout their recent challenges and only made their unity even better. Ash took the lead, making sure his eyes were always were latched on the criminal. Melody was in the middle trailing behind a bit, but she kept her eyes on Ash following him and thus following criminal. Michael took a much more leisurely distance, perfect for his weapon, but he made sure to always keep Melody in sight to make sure he didn't lose track of the criminal either. It was a tricky chain since if Melody lost track of Ash then Ash would be alone as Michael would lose him too.

It was a tactic that was well worth the practice though. They kept track of each other and the criminal whoever it was and they were hot on his trail. They dashed through the city and soon found themselves at the edge of the small town. The criminal pulled off one more disappearing trick behind one of the few trees dotting the otherwise barren landscape.

Michael paused, hesitating to leave the sanctity of his city. He looked back over his shoulder at the small town that stretched out behind him and with one final sigh. He descended down off of the building and further in after the criminal. He quickly caught up to Ash and Melody, both of whom were positioned around the same tree, their weapons in hand.

"Let's crush him," said Xander, still in his weapon form, an evil smile forming on his face. Ash nodded, he stepped forward and with a quick swish of his arm, brought the little tree down. He stopped for a second eyeing the piece of nature he had just destroyed and what was behind it…nothing. Despite Ash knew that he clearly saw the figment dodge and dance around until it came to a rest behind this tree, right now in this very instant there was nothing there.

"Either he disappeared into thin air or Ash was seeing things," muttered Shi, being ever so helpful and trustworthy in mirs teammates. Ash shot him a demonic look, he knew what he saw, that much was a fact and he saw something running away to this location. He didn't need to voice his opinion, both Michael and Melody trusted him and his sight well enough to follow him here.

"Well, then why did he lead us out here and THEN ditch us," brought up Melody, despite her trust in Ash she was still a little perturbed at all of this. She was acting like a decoy for a murderous maniac to come get and she wound up running all the way out here for nothing. "It was obviously capable of ditching us at any time, why wait till we were out here?"

"Why kill people?" asked Xander, bringing the topic to a screeching turning point. "I mean it is an Evil Human we are talking about it, obviously it's a little demented if not worse." Xander's point was valid, but still it didn't seem right. Would an Evil Human even run away in the first place? "It probably just did so for the thrill of the chase and as a cruel practical joke on us." Xander's reflection turned around on the blade facing the wide-open space in front of them. "You got us!" he shouted to the Evil Human wherever it was hiding. "We looked like fools chasing you!"

"'Praise thy enemy' isn't really one of the Ten Commandments," condescended May, her reflection was shaking its head at his stupidity. "We're supposed to be hunting it, remember? We're not playing tag."

"NOT IT!"declared Shi, forgetting all about the Evil Human matter in favor of a game. The crew redirected their gaze to mer. They shook their heads and decided to ultimately just ignore the outburst.

"I'm just saying it ducked all three of us, a little praise never hurt anyone. Besides I'd rather be completely duped by someone praise-worthy than by some idiot," defended Xander. Although he had half a mind to mention that it was entirely possible that Ash just saw a shadow of a rat or something and had chased it all the way out here to the hicks, however, throwing his own partner under the bus hardly seemed nice.

"Shut up," said Michael stomping his foot and garnering all of the attention. "Forget why he ran away from us! Why did he run away from town to this barren landscape? There's nothing out here! Which meant he wanted us out here! Or better yet not in town!" Michael's words hung in the air for a few precious seconds while May, Ash, and Xander tried to put them together. Shi busied hirself with other thoughts. The monster's real target was inside the city.

(-in the city limits-)

Zhavio chuckled to himself, a small cup of tea rested in his hands. He was enjoying himself. The one thing he liked more than the kill of his targets was the chase…ordinarily he preferred to be the one chasing, but this was just as good as just invigorating. They were going after a figment of his imagination just as they should. They bought his story hook, line, and sinker. They went after one of his decoy and it worked perfectly. He settled down, the thrill of the hunt hadn't ceased yet. The hunt wasn't over. Noelle still needed an hour or so. Michael's dad did a great job with the security system it would definitely keep her at bay for another hour then she would have to figure out the way to break her out. One challenge after another, it was a difficult job, but it was one he would enjoy doing.

His eyes traveled to his side. To the body of beheaded young woman. His hand went down and picked up her head. "It is such a shame. Killing you just for the joy of it would've been fun, but killing you for this reason almost makes it the same as a chore. Oh, well, make it so you don't die in vain, okay?"

* * *

><p>It appears that Zhavio is outsmarting the group. He has them chasing their tales while he sits back and does nothing.<p> 


	72. Chapter 71 The Break-In Begins

**The Break-In Has Begun**

The gang came back into town to meet a gruesome sight. A dead body hung up on one of the light posts. The body and head of the woman were hung up separately. The gang paused as they looked up at the body. They felt a sudden wave of chills as they looked at it. "He's taunting us," muttered Melody looking up at the dead body. "I guess Xander was right. This isn't just a random killing spree made by a run-of-the-mill Evil Human. This is a game and nothing else to him."

"Now what?" asked Ash. It was probably a question that had to be asked, but no one wanted to ask it. It was like admitting defeat and who wanted to do that? Michael still hadn't said a word, after all, this was someone in his home town, hanging up, dead…cut in two. For all Ash knew it was entirely possible that this person or what was left of her was someone Michael had known. Someone he grew up with. However, now it was moot point. Seeing her hanging up as dead as a doornail made it entirely obvious that she wasn't about to talk about old times.

"Let's get this monster," Michael said solemnly. Someone, something was playing around in his town. Killing his neighbors…he didn't like Evil Humans. He knew some of them were like his mother, thrust into this world without any voice of their own. But this was crossing the line. This was the last mistake this beast would ever make.

"Great plan," mocked Xander with a heavy tone of sarcasm, "And…how do you plan to go about this? Finding him, killing him? We have no idea about who this guy is! He is a killer, congratulations! That doesn't mean squat when it comes to finding hm. There isn't a bar that says 'killers only'! Or 'killers get in for free'! We have no idea how to find him!"

"Or we have a clue," said Melody. While Ash and Michael had been discussing catching the killer, Melody was inspecting the body. She was behind the victim looking firmly at her back. Her hand went up and peeled a thin strip of paper off of her back. It was a small envelope with the words 'For the Hunters'. She flashed it off, showing it to Michael and Ash. Michael's hand snapped forward, stealing it out of Melody's hand as he looked over it.

"Dear 'Hunters'," read Michael. He was kind of impressed by the choice of words. 'Hunters' made them sound like big burly men armed with shotguns, not teenagers with yo-yos. "I am lonely and I appreciate a good game. So let's have at it. Me versus you three. You have three hours, but every half hour I will add one more person to the body count until those three hours are up! That means six more bodies will be added to the heap of this poor woman as well. Have fun. I am in a building in town keep your eye out for me! Now don't rush, we wouldn't want you to…lose your heads!"

Michael frowned at that last bit, the horrible, sick joke. He threw the paper off to the side. He couldn't stand the thought of a mass murderer hanging out in his home town playing a game with his neighbor's lives. He looked around, "he couldn't have gone far. We know he was here to plant the body, we know he was doing something here with the body. He had to have come here in order to hang it up." He didn't just vanish into thin air and the more time they spent talking about it, the farther away he got. "We should split up, we might find him faster."

Michael went over and started to climb up the fire escape. With a bird's eye view of the city everything becomes revealed. He could see everyone all around him, including someone fleeing the scene of the crime. With his eyes at the top of the building he may be able to locate him. It was a good strategy that would easily capture him if Michael was right. A plan whose firm basis was in hope and nothing else.

Melody broke off down the trail. She headed away quickly to the mayor's house. From what she could tell both from the note and from his brazenness with it, this monster apparently liked power. What better place to assert his authority than in the boss' chair. Michael's plan was for a lucky, but all over shot. Melody concentrated her efforts into one location.

Ash, on the other hand, swerved back to where he was when he first saw the monster. That was where the race began so therefore it was where he was trying to lead them away from. Another logical conclusion on the part of the hunters. Why would he lead them away from that location if it was just a random location? Why was he there in the first place? Even if it wasn't where he was hiding out, something had to be there.

(-with Zhavio-)

Zhavio laughed. He was amazed at their action. They fully took him at his word. They never once thought was this man just pulling our legs. He loved people who played the fool, especially when they didn't even know it. They were playing right into his hand. He didn't like being the bait which is why he made a third-party up. Someone else to be the bait and that was who they were chasing.

He stretched out as he walked over to a table and lifted up a small cup of tea. He took a quick sip of it and relaxed. He was such a nice night. He remained quietly. He was calming down. Only idiots would pace around panickedly when they were being hunted, he looked over at his pile of dead people. People he was supposed to 'wait' to kill. He laughed at that thought. However, he froze. His calmness seeped out of him, leaving him petrified and terrified. There was another body in the room…not one of the dead ones, not even human. But nonetheless, Zhavio recognized his face. It was Marburg.

Marburg smirked. "Nice little plan you got going here," he muttered as he walked up to Zhavio. A dark purple cloud was flowing all around his body as he moved towards him. Zhavio reacted purely out of self-preservation. He rushed towards Marburg. His skin unpeeling and wrapping around his fist forming a drill-like weapon on the tip of his fingers. He thrust it into Marburg's body and to his credit, it blew through him. Or it would've if Marburg's body was really there. His hand slid straight through Marburg's body, forming a puff of purple smoke to escape from his body and covering his hand.

The purple smoke oozed around Zhavio, wrapping him up like a thick blanket. The smog floated around his body, it floated up wrapping around Zhavio's neck, snapping back holding it steady as Marburg's body resurfaced. "Fool," he growled as he pulled back even tighter, choking Zhavio, "The last time I fought against those students you are harassing I lost. I was a miserable wreck back then I was only at about 20% of my full power. All those wretched years spent rolling around in that Prison Jar Lord Death commissioned. My powers were drained, but now they are returning…"

"Yeah," asked Zhavio, "so this is you at full-power, huh?" He chuckled as his head fell down, hanging loosely between his shoulders. "Honestly…I'm disappointed!" Zhavio struck back with the heel of his foot, smashing it into Marburg's shin. The strike like any strike would caused Marburg to loosen his grip on Zhavio's neck. Zhavio broke free, slashing at Marburg's face as he moved away.

Zhavio moved a few feet, stopped and turned around to face Marburg again. To his surprise, Marburg's body wasn't even scratched. The thick purple smoke had returned swarming around his wounds. His leg was foaming along with a few streaks across his face. Marburg wiped the foam clear, revealing his perfectly uninjured body. He had a cocky smile on his face. "No, sadly…I am only at about 60%. Though 30% would be more than enough to defeat you!" Marburg's arm turned to smog and flew at Zhavio wrapping him up in the thick purple gas. The smog restricted Zhavio's entire body, preventing even the slightest movements.

It wrapped tightly against his throat, preventing Zhavio from even mustering a shout. "However, I'm not here to defeat you," he said, pushing his face right up against Zhavio's. "Ah…no," he said dropping Zhavio to the ground. "I have no interest in killing you, not even a small one. No, I'm here to ensure the demise of…someone else."

"Those kids, right?" asked Zhavio looking out the window, barely catching a glimpse as Melody ran by. "You probably hate them with all your guts, correct?"

Marbug smirked. "Sure, let's say it's them." Marburg looked out the window; however, his gaze didn't fall on Melody. "Let's just say that if you accomplish your goal. I'll be one step closer to accomplishing my goal. Of course, I'm not one to not pull my fair share. So, I'll help you out a little." Marburg's hand shot forward, grabbing a hold of Zhavio's head. The dark purple smog crept out of his hands once more filling the room. It floated about and then twisted around flooding into Zhavio's mouth and ears.

Zhavio's head snapped back as the purple smog filled his mouth. It tasted putrid, it smelled putrid, but it made him feel great. It made his heart pump vigorously; it made him feel more alive than ever before! His breathing grew heavy as he felt his blood rush throughout his entire body. "This is great! I feel stronger than ever before! Thanks to you…maybe I'll just crush this entire town." Zhavio chuckled under his breath as he thought about all the damage he could cause now; it was obvious that his sanity was slipping away with every full-bodied laugh he gave.

"I'll admit it," said Marburg as he walked towards the door. "My actions are absolutely selfish. Helping you is really just a stepping stone to accomplish my true goal."He paused as he looked over at Zhavio, who was paying absolutely no attention to Marburg, he was too enraptured in his own blossoming power levels. He looked over at Marburg, his opinion of him was rapidly inclining

(-with Michael-)

Michael remained perched on top of the buildings. His head was being cradled in his hands as he carefully rolled his eyes over the landscape. He saw nothing. He was amazed once more by how careful this monster was being. It was an Evil Human obviously due to the marks and tears on the bodies, but Michael had no hint aside from that. He was trying to keep himself busy and his mind off of his target, this entailed mainly loading and unloading arrows from his bow. He stretched out and looked up at the skies. "Here I was thinking it would be easy since it wasn't one of Lord Death's brothers, we were facing."

The reflection in May's bow, showed an equally bored girl. She wasn't doing anything since there was very little for her to do. She looked back over the city, she couldn't find them, but she did see Ash coming back, apparently empty-handed and distressed. She could almost make the frown out on his face as he walked in front of the building.

They were losing thus far. It wasn't their proudest moments, but they still had some time to turn it around. Michael checked his watch…they were about 22 minutes in, which meant they had eight minutes left until the second victim fell.

(-in the kishin holding cell-)

Noelle sighed. It was a heavily fortified place obviously Michael's dad put all of his saving and knowledge into this place. Booby traps were abound, if Noelle had an actually tangible, physical form it would be impossible to skate through here. Even with her ethereal form it was difficult to sneak in. Luckily she made it to the main control center of the place. She just had to hack and open the door. She brought it up on the old computer stored down there only to be met with firewalls, encryptions, and security galore. This would take more times…maybe two hours?

* * *

><p>The gang has gotten themselves in an unbelievably bad situation. Ignoring how the rest of the fight boils down it seems that trouble is brewing heavier than ever before. Zhavio has made multiple advancements, calling the gang out to a sinister 'game', it's all a matter of whether or not they can find him.<p> 


	73. Chapter 72 Found

**Found!**

Michael had moved on. He had jumped onto another rooftop and found nothing. He had been slowly moving around trying to find a better location. He found very little in terms of finding them. The first half hour was up already, they were already burning clear into the second. He checked his watch…48 minutes in. He tried to calm down and not rush things. He moved across the rooftops with a clear sense of movement. He couldn't afford to slow down.

Checking every building's highest floors. He left an arrow next to every window he had checked, he made sure every room was checked. Melody left scorch marks, Ash left X's dug into the walls. It wasn't a large town and yet they kept turning up nothing. The largest building was the broken down motel, a place Ash was currently off investigating. The tallest building was a block of apartments, one that Michael was staring at right now. He fired a quick row of arrows into all the rooms he saw with both lights on and people obviously in it. Michael moved forward, he needed to check all rooms. He placed an arrow at the door to signal Melody and Ash that it was being investigated.

Each room appeared empty. Michael knocked; some people made his job easy and opened their doors. Other people ignored Michael's constant scrapping at their door. Nobody seemed to care that a killer was out loose. Then again maybe they thought he was the killer…and he probably didn't win any favors when he kicked their doors open or forced his way in another method. Not too many of them were happy when a golem broke in their homes, he apologized, explained his reason, and then booked it out of there…sometimes with a frying pan following his head.

(-With Melody-)

Melody was racing across the field in search of something. While Michael was examining the highest floors, Melody stuck to the bottom floors. Shi's yo-yo form allowed hir to search high floors as well as slide hirs body into the mail slot or under any slightly open windows. She felt like a peeping tom resorting to such methods, but most people took it as an innocent prank when they saw a yo-yo pop in or out of the mail slot. Besides when rumors of a killer are circling the town, nobody opens their doors to see who was playing put the yo-yo in the mail slot prank.

Melody considered herself lucky that she could do this, Michael's weapon was too unwieldy to stick in people's mail slot and Ash's blade wasn't long enough to stick into it and get a good look. However, despite her weapon being made for this kind of research wasn't really helping her find the location. She was coming up empty handed at every house at every block. Bad luck all the way down.

(-With Ash-)

While Michael was unluckily busting in on innocent people's homes, Ash felt a lot worse off. Rather than accidentally breaking in on someone playing video games with their children, Ash would break in on people doing something a lot less wholesome. This was a rundown motel in the middle of nowhere. Nobody came here for a vacation, so nobody stayed in the motel for vacation. It was a close-knit town, if you were visiting families you would stay with your family. So, chances are if you were staying here you weren't coming here to be somewhere, you were here to avoid being someplace else. Freaks or immoral people resided here and no one else. Ash wasn't having a good time.

He came up to another door and knocked on it. Hoping that for once it was a 'normal person'. "Coming!" a voice rang out, rather eager despite the given circumstances of a killer being in town. Ash didn't mind though, he could use a face-to-face greet with a happy person. Wasn't too many of those on his route so far.

He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited. He could hear the footsteps of mysterious motel man #7 or 8 if you count the okama in the room down the hall. This one didn't sound to have on high heels, so Ash let out an involuntary sigh of relief. There was some quiet clicking on the room next to them as Ash figured the man messed with the locks. That though wasn't too prevalent however in the next second. The middle of the door, burst open, sending a rain of splinters of everywhere. A hand shot out and grasped onto Ash's neck. Ash gasped for air as he tried to figure out what was going on. He guessed he must've stumbled upon the Evil Human. Ash was pulled forward, smashed into the front of the wooden door once and then allowed to stumble back. Only for the next moment to be Ash reintroducing his face to the door once again. Finally with one final meet and greet between Ash and the door, it broke. Ash was flung into the room and through the air.

He crashed into one of the tables in the room and broke it, crashing to the floor. He was upside down as he looked at the mystery man who managed to easily toss him around like a ragdoll. The man was definitely an Evil Human. Of course, Ash was judging a book by the cover which he was always told not to do, but he was pretty sure this was an exception to that golden rule. The man was bald with completely pale skin. His eyes were sunken deep into his skull and were white, or as some people would say it, bone white. The majority of his face was hidden behind an elongated skull mask, but Ash would take a gamble and assume that whatever was behind that was just as eerie. His hands were the main dead give-away though. They were only four fingers and each of them had transformed into a sharp claw.

"Bravo!" laughed the man as he bent down lifting up the bed with ease. "You found me and only one hour, 12 minutes, and…36 seconds into the game. I'm impressed, here's your prize!" Zhavio heaved the bed, mattress, frame, and all, at Ash. Ash flipped to his feet, ducked beneath it and quickly picked his head back up and watched as the bed sailed into the wall, taking the wall down with it as it tumbled through like a boulder. Ash looked back over at Zhavio, only to see a blur fast approaching. He swept his hand through the air, slicing with one of his claws. Ash was thrown back, surprised by Zhavio's intense strength. It seemed to far surpass the normal Evil Humans he had faced so far. Ash caught himself and felt a dribble of red blood trickle down his cheek. He moaned, but kept his eyes focused on Zhavio. He would have to clean his wound later. Zhavio didn't seem to be in the mood to let Ash wander off and fix the cut.

Ash's eyes traveled around the room, looking for some brief glimmering symbol of hope. But instead he found despair. It turns out Zhavio hadn't upheld his end of the bargain. The mass of dead people had already gathered in the corner of the room, despite that according to Zhavio's note only two should've perished by now. "I see you're not big on upholding your word."

Zhavio laughed. "I don't care," he said with a mocking laugh, "and I don't see any of them objecting!" His utter disregard for the dead lit a fire under Ash. Ash drove forward, leaping into the air and bringing Xander's blade down on top of Zhavio. Zhavio laughed once more, easily blocking and parrying the blow. He swiped his arm to the side and knocked Ash over to the side. Ash tumbled for awhile, but quickly caught himself.

"Nice try, partner," encouraged Xander, "but next time you might want to try actually hitting him!" Well, so much for encouragement. Ash bucked down and rushed in once more. He ran up to Zhavio, ducked below his first swing and went straight to his side. Zhavio brought his arm swinging back, however, Ash's smaller size allowed him to duck beneath it again and this time he was placed right in front of Zhavio's body. Ash lashed out, brining his fist up from down below aiming for Zhavio's chin. Zhavio muttered something as he lurched his head out of the way and to the side. The punch screeched by Zhavio's check, but didn't even touch him. Zhavio's other hand lashed out and grabbed a hold of Ash's neck once more, lifting him up to Zhavio's face. Ash struggled for a bit as he tried to break free, with both of his hands prying at Zhavio's tight grip.

Finally with a little bit of luck and due to some of the long training he did while fighting other Evil Humans, Ash managed to break free, not with his arms, but with his feet. He lowered his feet and kicked one of the trash cans that were handy at the moment upwards and at Zhavio. The trash flew up, cluttering Zhavio's vision and mostly out of reflex Zhavio brought his arms away and swatted at the trash. As a result he loosened his grip on Ash's throat. With a swift kick into Zhavio's shin, Ash was free. He slammed his foot down, rotated around, doing a complete 180 and busted out the new 'exit' made by Zhavio throwing the bed into the wall. And he was out.

"Hey, where are we going?" asked Xander. "Come on, get back in there and give him a what for!" Ash looked down at Xander, sometimes he seriously wondered about his friend. He never quite understood if Xander understood that they were getting their butts handed to them at times. Whatever that Evil Human's deal was, it would take more than Ash to take him down. However, it looked like Ash would never get to put his theory to the test. A tight feel of a paper-like substance was immediately around his foot. Ash fell forward as he tried to take a step, hitting the ground and immediately being dragged backwards to Zhavio. It looked like it was going to be Ash versus Zhavio with no outside interference. Sure Xander wasn't upset about this, but it was more than obvious that Ash wasn't thrilled.

Ash rotated around and brought Xander slicing through the paper in order to free himself from the dreaded monster behind it. Almost as soon as Ash freed himself from the grip, he looked up to find Zhavio sailing towards him and through the air. He came down on top of Ash. His feet lashed out and jabbed into Ash's gut. Ash cringed as he felt the air force its way out of his lung, much against his will. The world flashed black for a split second as he tried to concentrate, but found himself incapable of doing so.

Ash panicked, he had no shame in admitted he did so. He brought Xander around and sliced into Zhavio's leg forcing him to back off off of him. Ash scrambled to his feet, he recognized that he wouldn't be able to escape Zhavio. As much as he would like back-up for this fight it appeared it would have to be just him versus the monster. He took his distance, taking his time and sizing up his opponent. Xander piped up, "just go at full-power from the get-go." Ash rolled his eyes, Xander wasn't the one who was having his life beat out of him with every swing of Zhavio's long arms.

Ash sighed. Xander was right. Only thing Ash was doing right now was prolonging the inevitable. He would rush in, take Zhavio by surprise and hopefully score a few good hits in. He lowered his waist and dove into the fray. Zhavio welcomed the change in tactic; he met Ash half-way. A head-to-head collision between Meister and monster commenced.

* * *

><p>Man...I've fallen a bit behind with writing this...don't worry, I'm still going good...just not as well as I would like. Anyways...onto the real note!<p>

It appears that Michael and Zhavio are having at it, but its still unclear as to who the winner will be or even how long this fight will drag out for.


	74. Chapter 73 The End of a Tough Fight?

**The End of a Tough Fight?**

**Or the Beginning of Horrors?**

Noelle hurried through the firewalls doing a double-check over all of her math. It was difficult, but she was slowly coming to the conclusion of how break the firewalls installed. She looked over at the monster behind the glass. It had moved forward to the wall and pressed its face against the glass looking in at Noelle. She had massive tusks that scraped against the walls as it walked. It kept a close-eye on Noelle and Noelle admittedly felt a little twinge of suspicion as she worked on. She trusted Zhavio even enough to let this monster out of its cage. If Zhavio said that they could trust her, Noelle was certain that they could trust her. She continued working on it.

Suddenly there was a loud thud. The monster had brought its massive tree trunk of arms against the wall. Noelle felt a trickle of sweat form on her head. She didn't want to do anything with it. She wanted to leave the monster alone until she needed to use them. She needed to use the monster alongside Zhavio, once they did that they'd be golden. This little place would be their very own town, under their control. That was their goal and Noelle couldn't wait. Carving out their own location in the new world order was a fine idea and it was best to do it before everyone else was also trying to do it was a smart idea. And Noelle accepted the fact that they needed more muscles, but…did they really need this thing?

Noelle knew she was playing jump rope with her own albeit twisted, her own set of ethics. She didn't like it that she and this monster were used by the witches to test a Kishin creating method and now here she was about to use the monster in a very similar way. She ignored its humanity and possibly her own, a possession she once ignored and now wanted back, but she didn't care. There was no turning back now, she knew it. So she wondered why her fingers hesitated so much as pressed another button. She wondered about it as they danced gracefully about, should she just stop it here. Tell Zhavio that they could conquer this town with their own power? No…she knew they couldn't and she knew Zhavio wouldn't accept that. He was a thinker, not a fighter and he insisted on that fact. It was one of the reasons why Noelle could actually stomach being around him.

This plan of his still made her feel a bit uneasy. She trusted Zhavio, he was the only she did trust. However, that didn't make what she was about to do any easier. She remembered back when she was human, before the witches conducted their experiment on her. She would've grimaced at the thought of unleashing a beast like this onto the unsuspecting people. However, now she felt a great joy welling up in her in sheer anticipation. Her old voice was drowned out by a cackling laugh urging her on. She couldn't help it…she wanted to. That cackling laugh was the most powerful voice in her head and she wanted to do whatever she could to please it. To make it stay it made her feel great and the thought of unleashing this monster on the town made it laugh even louder. She had to wonder what would happen when the monster was unleashed. How loud would the laughing be? How great would she feel?!

(-with Zhavio-)

Zhavio's fist embedded itself in the ground once more as he tried desperately to pierce Ash's soft flesh with his sharpened claws. Ash moved around the room with adept agility. He was moving through the mess with incredible grace, wasting no time in bursting around and then back close to Zhavio. He would like to say that his speed was granting him the upperhand, but sadly it was becoming obvious that Zhavio wasn't about to let the difference in speed upset him. He was quickly adapting to the change in direction, managing to throw his guard up just in time to block the next attack from Ash. His guard was nice and solid too, Ash's continuous attacks on it didn't really even break it open. It was clenched tight, Ash would need a lot more force behind it in order to break it open. He and Zhavio both sprang back at the same exact second, separating them from each other after another failed attempt to attack. Zhavio's two long arms hung down to his knees.

"You are actually boring me," muttered Zhavio. He shook his head side-to-side as he looked over at his opponent. "It should've already become obvious that this fight will keep going on until I hit you again or you can get through my guard. So let's just hurry this fight along, shall we?" Zhavio's head twisted to the side in a rather unnatural manner. He was really starting to get bored. He wanted to kill people not fight with a brat. His memories from before he became an Evil Human was sparse. It was so long ago. He remembered uncovering a tomb to an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh. The rumors that circulated the pharaoh's powers and all the curses he had. Back then…he laughed at them. He thought they were the absolute silliest things in existence. He ignored them and went into the tomb anyways. There he found it…a beautiful golden scarab probably worth thousands, if not hundreds of millions. He stole it in greed. That was when the voices started. They set in upon him like vultures onto a carcass. They were quiet at first, but they slowly started to get louder. 'Kill him', 'kill her', 'kill them', the voices would say to him. He ignored them at first, he knew killing was wrong. However, eventually the maddening echoes of the voices became too much and he snapped. He killed one, thought it was over, but it continued. The voices only grew louder from there on out. He still heard the voices now…but he ignored them. He knew what he wanted and he didn't need the voices to tell him. He wanted to kill now. He enjoyed it…he'd enjoy ripping this kid's lungs out. Draining him of all fluids and then wrapping him up, imprisoning his dead cold body in the darkest tomb he could find. He wanted to kill!

As the voices started to rise up again in Zhavio's head, the dark purple smoke that Marburg had injected him with started too ooze out of his body and fill the air once more. The voices were growing in a cacophonous tune that filled his head. He couldn't fight it anymore. The edge of Zhavio's mouth jumped back forming a cruel insidious smile. Ash knew what that signaled, this fight wouldn't last another five minutes. And Ash was okay with that.

The two fights raced at each other Zhavio's long arms shot out, Ash dove to the side letting the attack breeze past. Zhavio lifted his knee finally smashing it comfortably into Ash's face. Ash stumbled back, but recovered just in time to avoid Zhavio's next couple thrusts. Each blow was hard to avoid, Zhavio had definitely sped up in an attempt to catch Ash. His arms came in at an increasing pace. One of them would eventually catch Ash the only thing it would take was the slightest slip or for Ash to slow down by even a millimeter. And of course, Ash didn't have an infinite tank of stamina, he could already feel his legs growing heavier. He couldn't keep this up much longer. He need to go for it…his all-or-nothing plan! Suddenly, Ash felt his leg go up in the air, his balance was thrown off, and he had slipped. He saw the ground and ceiling slowly switch places as he was tossed through the air and slowly turned around. However, the floor and the ceiling getting flipped around was the least of Ash's worries. His true worry was what was slowly inching towards his face. Zhavio's sharpened claw was coming in and behind it was Zhavio with a cruel, sadistic smile plastered on it.

Zhavio's hand pierced through Ash's shoulder, sending a magnificent spray of red blood upwards, coating the monster's arm and legs. Zhavio stepped forward and pressed his foot on top of Ash's body, squeezing down on top of him. "Victory has never tasted any sweeter!" Zhavio laughed loudly, a tone of sharp insanity filled the air. "You did good, but ultimately you fail when compared to the magnificent me! Any last words?"

"Right back at ya?" said Ash with a little question hanging at the end of his statement. He had never done something like this before, but he still trusted his own powers as well as Xander's. His hand clasped onto Zhavio's blood soaked leg. Ash had a unique power through Soul Resonance with Xander, he could turn his own blood into sharpened daggers. True, ordinarily he had put the blood on his blade rather than on his opponent, but blood was blood, right? Ash's simplistic math proved to be true. The blood on Zhavio's legs transformed into the same daggers as they would've if they had been on Ash's blade, but this time they had direct contact with Zhavio's legs. The daggers exploded inwards, severing many important arteries and tendons as they made their way through Zhavio's leg. They tore their way through and into his leg, slashing everything apart, officially tearing it off. Zhavio's leg recoiled off of Ash's body in pain, he screeched loudly, looking at his leg. They knives were still in it, but they didn't stop the blood flow.

Ash rolled onto his chest and quickly stood up, he was in as bad as shape as Zhavio was in, but he couldn't let that stop him. One more hit was all he needed. He rushed in through the ground and quickly caught up to Zhavio. He leapt up into the air, a simple shot to his chest wouldn't cut it here. No, Ash needed to land a blow that was definite, a blow Zhavio couldn't get up from. Anything less would be as good as nothing at all. He was in the air and he threw his entire weight behind it, there was a loud crackle as he sent his Soul Wavelength shooting up the length of his arm focusing it all into the tip at the very end. A brilliant flash of light was released as Ash brought his blade into the forehead of Zhavio's mask. The electricity of his Soul Wavelength shot forward, covering Zhavio in the bright light. Zhavio was thrown backwards, his mask was finally chipped. Bits and pieces of the hardened mask flew around him, Zhavio hit the ground, collapsing into pitiful pile in the center of the room.

Ash landed safely at first, but then he stumbled forward as the pain shot back up his body. In the end Xander was right, the plan was just to beat him up. He stood up, lifting his body back up and leaning it against the nearby bed post. He looked at Zhavio, who remained crumpled up in the corner. More of the purple smoke oozed out of Zhavio's body. Ash paused for a few seconds as he watched it, the sight seemed familiar to him somehow, but in the end. He couldn't quite place it. His own body was beaten and bloodied, so he chose not to strain his brain as well. He shrugged it off, whatever it was it wasn't as important as Ash taking him down. With that in mind Ash headed back off to the center of town, hopefully he would be able to find Michael and ask him for a ride back. He didn't think he had enough strength in his legs to make it all the way back to the outskirts of the small town.

Xander smirked as he came out of his weapon form and transformed back to his human form. He butted his arm up from below and hefted Ash onto it. He did a good job, he was allowed a little rest.

* * *

><p>It seems Noelle has been busy along with Zhavio and things are looking like they might just go from bad to worse.<p> 


	75. Chapter 74 SNAP!

**SNAP!**

Ash was leaning on Michael as the two walked in the door with Melody racing in front of them handling the doors and anything else that may be in their way. Ash was in bad shape and they barely made it back to their house on time. The nearest hospital as explained by Michael was about two hours away on foot. He needed some medical attentions, but it was nothing too serious. Nothing that they didn't know how to patch up from basic medicine at the DWMA. Melody knocked the door to Michael's house open, the door swung widely and into the wall causing a loud sound to resonate through the house. It caught Michael's dad's attention, who immediately jumped out of bed and rushed down the stairs. He saw his own child and one of his friends drag another friend of his into the house. He wasted no time. His days back in war told him that time was of the essence. He swiped his table clean and patted on it, signaling for them to place Ash on the table. The two did so and Michael's dad went straight work. His knowledge of wartime medicine combined with Michael's and Melody's own unique knowledge of medicine proved helpful. They sped into Ash's operation, quickly fixing him up. Closing the gaping wounds that required immediate attention and then moving onto the lesser wounds. They wasted no time in taking care of their friend. When they were down Michael's dad leaned back and took a deep breath, a notable drop of sweat had formed on his brow, "just what the hell do you kids do?"

Michael paused for a second, unsure of how to respond. This kind of discussion wasn't usually brought up in class; most classes at the DWMA were how to neutralize Evil Humans and witches, making the word a better place. Not on how to answer your parent's questions. Melody seemed to be coming up with a similar problems, she didn't really fully feel like answering the question. Either that or she didn't know how to approach it just like Michael. Michael's dad sighed, he knew he wasn't about to get any answers and stretched back again, relaxing for the first time in awhile. Call him a bad father if you will, he missed the peace and quiet of his old empty house. Not being woken up in the middle of the night by your son and his literally bleeding friend. He shook his head, "I'm going back to bed." The bandages he applied should hold for the rest of the night. They may need a good cleaning in the morning, but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

Michael and Melody shared a glance. They couldn't believe what they had just gone through. One Evil Human so close to home…and now here they are. Ash on the dining room table with splotches of blood covering the floor from the operation. "It is hard to believe that just this morning I was eating pancakes at this very table…" said Shi, solemnly as ze looked at hirs friend laid out on the table…or maybe ze was looking at the table itself remembering the taste of hirs earlier meal, for the next words out of hirs mouth was, "do you think there are any leftovers?" Melody rolled her eyes, Shi's attitude was completely unbelievable. She found hir amount of concern was just horrible.

"I can't believe it," Melody muttered. She shook her head in disbelief, not at Shi, but at Ash's current state. Xander was just returning with more ice packs. "A normal regular Evil Human did this?" She looked over at Michael, who wasn't paying her too much attention. Melody shook her head as she returned her gaze to Ash. "It seems like they are just getting tougher and tougher as they go on. How much longer do you think we'll be able to hold off for until they all get to be this powerful? We're training everyday just to match their regular super-human strength and it is barely enough apparently. It is possible that if they were a little bit better organized than possibly…under the lead of Vigrid that army could've conquered the world."

"Don't talk like that," said May as she went over to comfort her. The rest of them weren't good for times like this. Shi and Xander were both bad with comforting people anyways and Michael wasn't much better. Shi was too crazy, Xander was too blunt, and Michael, ever since he lost his real body, became somewhat of a pessimist. "We've still got Lord Death and all of the Death Scythes! As long as we have them on our side we'll win!" May gave Melody a consoling smile and a wink.

"Lord Death's locked up," said Michael once more offering the piece of news that no one wanted. "The other Death Scythes haven't been all too helpful." Rochelle and Saul lost to Marburg, Enma and his partner lost to Vigrid…and Myrrh was captured in the first place. That left nearly no one. They were more Death Scythes, of course, but seeing how well the first three did. They didn't stand a chance against the Evil Humans if they were paired up with Marburg and his brothers. Marburg and his brothers, huh? Michael kicked his head back and thought of that. There was still a third one hanging in the air, wasn't there? He wondered what Lord Death was doing to combat it. He finally noticed the evil glare May was shooting him. Michael knew better than try to go against her, he decided to look busy and try to help Ash out.

"Don't forget," muttered Ash from his spot on the table. "Vigrid's out of the picture for the time being. Lord Death locked him up. Only person capable of fighting on equal footing with Lord Death right now is Marburg's other brother. Rumors say that Marburg still hasn't powered up to his original power just yet. Lord Death would beat him in a fair fight." May and Melody smirked as even in extreme pain Ash was still trying to make them feel better.

Suddenly the ground shuddered.

Ash was thrown from the table while May, Shi, and Xander were knocked off of their feet. Melody and Michael managed to stay standing because of their Meister abilities, but that didn't mean all too much. Melody and Michael shared a glance and immediately grabbed their respective partners, transforming them into their weapon forms and barreled out the back door. Michael already had a sickening feeling about what it was, but he dearly hoped he was wrong.

Once out back they saw a small shadow dart out from a hole in the ground, the same hole Michael's mother-turned-Evil Human was imprisoned. Michael swore under his breath, but it was loud enough for May to hear it. May turned her attention upwards to his face for a second, before quickly redirecting it to the ground which was starting to collapse in on itself. Michael knew what it was…his dad was a cautious guy. He installed one final safety precaution into his mother's cell. A final thing to prevent what he dreaded. When the door was opened there was a built-in mechanism that would cause the tunnel to collapse. It was easy for him to disable, but that's only because he knew it existed. If at any point in time someone tried to hack their computer down there and managed to get through the thousands of firewalls and other safety mechanisms it had, they would never once notice the final precaution.

"What's going on," shouted Melody as she looked about frantically at the ground as if a sinkhole had been opened up. Michael did not know what to say, should he be open and honest. Tell his friends that a shadow had apparently tried to free the Evil Human he was keeping locked up? It seemed like a long shot that wasn't worth the risk. Especially if his mother didn't survive the collapsing tunnel.

Michael kept one eye on the tunnel, waiting to see if his mother had survived. He hoped she did. Why else did he and his father go through such lengths to build this cell, other than to keep her alive and away from Lord Death? If she died now all was for naught…then again, Michael begrudgingly sensed it inside of him. The hope that his mother had perished that she would never see the light of day. It was obvious what happened and if she was alive still she was clawing her way out right this instant ready to kill some innocent civilians. "There's…there's an old bomb shelter down there," muttered Michael loud enough for Melody to hear him. "It is really old so it probably just finally collapsed or someone made it collapse." His Soul Perception finally made itself known once more. He sensed the growing Evil Human's aura in front of him. He turned his bow around, expecting to find his mother…and knowingly full well that if he did…he wouldn't be able to muster the spirit to fire.

To his satisfaction it wasn't. However, that just meant that there were two Evil Humans they may have to deal with. He just wished his mother would stay down. The Evil Human before them was the shadow of what appeared to be a little girl, two glowing purple eyes rested on her face and a wicked smile formed, slicing her face in two.

"I did it, Zhavio! I freed her! Now we can take over this puny town!" she shouted with glee she looked to her left and to her right only to notice that Zhavio wasn't around. "Where is Zhavio?" she asked, sounding like a little girl who lost her favorite dolly. She looked over at Melody and Michael as if expecting them to answer her and tell her where her friend, and their enemy, was. "Where is he?" Her eyes glinted red for brief second as they filled with rage and possibly a touch of fear that she had lost her only companion in the world. Her shadow began to get distorted and her soul in Michael's eyes grew. The dark swirling blob that was her soul was growing larger and larger, the two slanted purple eyes were locked onto Michael and Melody.

Michael didn't particularly want to fight right now. He needed to keep his eyes on the sinkhole make sure his mother didn't climb up and out of it to wreak havoc. He looked over at the young girl and immediately noticed that he was probably the best suited to take her on. Melody's yo-yo was incredibly versatile, but it just didn't match up to Michael and his bow's ability and long-range fights. As much as Michael told himself it made sense for him to fight this Evil Human, he couldn't wrench his eyes off of the sinkhole and have them lock on to her. He remained fixated on the sinkhole. May was probably the only one who actually noticed her partner's line of sight, which she mistook for trepidation and worry about what was under there.

Melody stretched her yo-yo out and stepped forward. She swung her right arm and pointed to her chest with her thumb and she was just about to say something when Shi butted in, "I took down Zhavio! And ate his soul, too…he needed salt!" Melody's eyes went blank for a second as she tried to figure out what to do. She hadn't counted on Shu butting in…she probably should've, she knew better than that, but nonetheless she didn't. She barely had any time to react. Noelle flew in the anger obviously sketched across her face as she closed in on Melody. Melody's entire body was yanked back and into the air as Noelle's small body was flying at almost bullet-like speeds.

Noelle ordinarily considered herself an intelligent being, but everybody had something that could make them snap and turn into a depraved monster.

* * *

><p>Not only did Ash barely come out of his fight alive, but it appears another powerful fight is looming and Shi may have only made it worse! Can Melody and Shi take down the crazed Noelle or is another disaster starting to loom in the distance for the group?<p> 


	76. Chapter 75 Their Final Plan

**Their Final Strategy**

Noelle swung her right arm forward, her darkened shadowy claws came inching in closer to Melody. Melody swiftly dodged backwards, letting the slash breeze by her. Melody took another quick two steps back she didn't want to stay face-to-face with Noelle for too long it was already apparent that she wanted Melody dead. Melody supposed that most of the blame for this incident should fall on Shi, not Noelle. Shi was the one who blurted out the lie without thinking about the consequences. Melody would also be upset if someone told her they had killed Michael or Ash. So the same could be said for Noelle, she supposed that the monster had a good reason for trying to kill her.

But that didn't mean she wouldn't defend herself. Melody spun her yo-yo out into the air and then quickly rotated around and brought the small stringed weapon straight down aiming for the top of Noelle's head. Noelle touched the ground and disappeared into it. Melody's sharp yo-yo hit the ground and tore it up with a new burst of strength. She returned the small yo-yo to her side and looked out over to where Noelle was. Noelle had just disappeared into the ground, which worried Melody since now she had no idea where the little girl had disappeared into. Until she realized she knew where she would be re-appearing.

Melody lashed downwards with yo-yo, striking the ground and using the recoil from the impact she forced herself up and into the air. She now had a bird's-eye view of the ground and any place the Evil Human could be hiding. "Come out, come out wherever you are," shouted Shi from his new spot out of the reach of the young maniac. However…it seemed like that was not one-hundred perfect correct. A large black spire shot out of the ground and up at Melody. Melody managed to dodge to the side a little by twisting her body, but without any ground to push against she couldn't dodge it completely. The spire struck into her side and burned through her clothes as well scratching through her skin. Melody landed on the ground pretty safely. When her feet hit the ground she felt her sides tearing themselves up as the recoil shot through her body.

Melody rotated around and sent her yo-yo careening through the air and towards Noelle. The blades shot out of the small contraption and burned through the air towards Noelle. Noelle dove into the ground, disappearing before them without even a second thought. The blades flew through the air and over Noelle's small shadow. Noelle's shadow darted towards Melody. Suddenly her shadow underwent a metamorphosis. Her shadow grew out of the ground and took the form of a giant fist with sharp claws. The dark foggy hand swept through the air and carved open the ground, Melody barely managed to jump back another few feet trying to dodge it, but it proved to do very little. As soon as Melody's feet left the ground, Noelle changed the course of the shadowy hand and aimed it after her. Melody lashed out with her yo-yo once more relying on the force and the recoil to knock her out of the way. She was out of the path of the shadow once more, however, Noelle still wasn't done with her attack. She twisted her body around and shoved the dirt to the side along with the hand and brought it flinging to the side. Melody brought her guard up and gritted her teeth. She braced herself and prepared herself for the moment of impact, she was thrown backwards through the air.

She somersaulted around in order to land on her feet; however, the approaching sight didn't make her feel any better. Noelle had changed directions once more, her glowing eyes were the only hint to her location, but Melody could still sense her. It was strange. Had they really grown this lax with their Soul Perception, none of them had detected the two Evil Humans as a matter of fact Melody still felt a little clouded in that area like something was stopping her from really seeing Noelle's Soul and the Soul of any other being that may be lurking around. It took her a while, but remembered that she did not have the time nor the luxury to be distracted. The ground beneath her had been ripped asunder as Noelle came up, ripping the ground apart as another shadowy spike shot free from the ground, Melody jumped back and into the air.

"You killed Zhavio!" Noelle cursed as she dove at Melody. Noelle's shadowy form smashed downwards into Melody's body forcing the both of them down into the dirt, although Noelle's landing was padded by Melody's. Noelle swept her hand back up into the air and the shadowy form grew anew. This time rather than hand, it transformed into a massive black blade that chopped downwards at the Melody and Shi. Melody struck out, sending her small yo-yo forward and through the air sweeping it around and at her head. Noelle did not stop her attack. It kept coming down with an immense force behind it. Melody swung to the side, desperate to avoid the chop. Her attack barely made it through Noelle's haphazardous attack. It became apparent to Melody that Noelle wasn't even trying to protect herself she had thrown that ideal away and decided to take Melody down.

Melody paused as she looked at the young girl. She noticed something odd…a strange sight that was in front of her. Melody had taken care of several Evil Humans, but she supposed this was the first time she laid eyes on one…who was crying. Wet tears streaked down Noelle's face as she tried to keep her composure, but nonetheless it was impossible to hide it. Her friend had just died and the expression of sadness was obvious on her face. She looked saddened at the thought, but she still charge on. Noelle dashed forward, holding out her hand and letting a pitch black axe extend from it.

The stress on her body was large from doing all these techniques. She wasn't used to fighting, she preferred the calm and calculated approach as did Zhavio, but they were both pawns to their emotions. Zhavio and his desire to kill and Noelle's immense want for revenge, she wanted it more than anything right now. Even if it meant tearing her body apart in order to achieve it.

Noelle immediately pushed herself beneath Melody, Melody panicked and accepted that they had no other choice…they had to go for it now. "Soul Resonance, Shi!" Melody skidded into the ground and brought the Devil's Yo-Yo swinging around in the air, suddenly it sparked to life. The yo-yo as well as its own blades had been engulfed in a brilliant red blaze. Somehow the yo-yo felt different to her, the weight was different it felt heftier…but at the same time lighter. The flames felt hotter as well, something had definitely changed since the last time she had used it. While she wished she had had the time to check it over and properly examine it, she didn't have a choice in the matter. She would have to give it a field test right now.

Melody rushed in just as Noelle did. The two of them weren't going to back down now. They were going to exchange blows any moment now the question was who would come out on top? Melody swung and brought the yo-yo sliding in! At the same time Noelle brought her hand around and it quickly transformed into a large disc similar to Melody's yo-yo, except much larger. Noelle pivoted and brought the large disc towards Melody. Melody leapt into the air and watched as the large disc burned through the air beneath her. Quickly rotating her entire body around she brought her lighter and much faster yo-yo back around and aimed for Noelle's head. Noelle swirled to the side, diving beneath the slicing yo-yo and at the same time bringing her large disc back into her shadowy form. Noelle brought her arm out into the air and immediately it bubbled up and transformed into another devastating weapon, a scythe. Noelle rotated around and brought the scythe mere inches away from Melody's face, it was only thanks to her meister reflexes that she was capable of avoiding it.

Melody tried to take her distance, the little girl was starting to behave more erratically and more reckless than ever before, but it appeared that recklessness only propelled Noelle after Melody even faster and she was immediately on her. Noelle stopped and pivoted, several times bringing her scythe around again and again over and over, slicing through the air. The instant Melody's feet hit the ground, she had to immediately push off of it again just in order to survive against the girl's vicious combinations. Upon seeing the slightest opening Melody tried to lash out in a desperate attempt to end the fight, but while her yo-yo made small impacts against Noelle's shadowy form none of them seemed to have an actual effect on her. She just kept swinging her large scythe around while raising her voice in her saddening war cry, "Zhavio!"

It was by sheer luck that Melody actually managed to stop the attack, she swung Shi towards Noelle. Noelle dodged to the side, but her large scythe was too blocky to get out of the way. Shi's burning yo-yo string hit the scythe and started to spin around it again and again and again. The scythe was slowly get entrapped by the small yo-yo strings all the while the flames of Shi's Soul Resonance burned into. Soon the scythe wad turned into a bonfire. The flames scorched all over the small weapon and while Noelle struggled to break free the weapon wasn't made of tough stuff and broke. "Take that shadow miss!" laughed Shi as ze was freed from scythe and came swinging back to Melody's side. Melody caught Shi and took up a stance, she still highly doubted this fight was over.

"Zhavio…Zhavio…ZHAVIO!" chanted Noelle as her brain was beyond gone. She was originally a calm person, but any sign of that had vanished behind her lost of control due to her raging emotions. The shadowy form broke out as weapons galore sprouted from her body. Scythes, swords, gauntlets, and a yo-yo of her own sprouted from Noelle's small body. A crazed look was on her face, it was hard to tell if she was still crying over the lost of her partner or not as her entire face was drenched from sweat, she was wearing her own body out. It was debatable if she would even be able to live to strike a victory pose. Noelle charge forward sending all of her weapons slicing and crashing forward.

For Melody it was like being stuck in a hurricane each weapon screeched forward and Melody was trying her absolute best to try and avoid each one as they all came crashing in. Melody was fast, but not fast enough to keep up and completely avoid four different weapons that were reacting crazily. There was no way she could completely avoid them. The scythe drew close to her face and cut open her cheek, the sword drew blood from her leg, and the gauntlet nearly crushed her arm several times. Defending was starting to wear her out, she didn't have enough time to think up an attack plan. It was lucky that she already had.

Noelle was blinded not only by her own anger, but by her weapons that were screeching in front of her. She couldn't see anything, which explained why she didn't see that Melody wasn't holding her weapon any more. The yo-yo was a small weapon to begin with, and if it escaped to either side it would be nearly impossible as the only telltale sign would be the paper-thin string. It was a strain on both Shi and Melody as they had to keep the yo-yo in the air while it worked its way around, but it was worth it. Soon the yo-yo was behind Noelle and poised to strike. Melody pulled back on the string and brought the yo-yo buzz-sawing its way to Noelle's neck.

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><p>The ability to control the weapon while barely being in contact with it has always confused me, but I figured it would probably suit Melody the best the ability to control the path of the yo-yo, after she's thrown it especially to this degree. My Future Works section on my profile page has once again been updated.<p>

Secondly and this will probably be the depressing part for all of you fans...I have no bloody idea how I'm going to continue this story after the Four Horsemen. I literally have no idea in mind for what is going to happen after it...I don't necessarily want the story to end, but I also don't want to produce sub-par chapters with no real thought or emotion behind them.


	77. Chapter 76 The Demonic Arrow

**Demon Arrow**

Michael watched as the little girl-like shadow fell to the ground with a thud. He couldn't believe such a thing was even possible. She didn't seem like other Evil Humans. He never saw one so young nor has he ever seen one cry. It seemed like impossibility for such a fragile human being to have turned so dark. She looked young. Michael had always believed that humans were born inherently good, but if that was true could a little girl really have turned evil. He didn't want to believe that evil could creep into a being at such a young age. He wanted to say something like 'children were off limits', but he knew that wasn't true. Nothing was off limits when it came to this world.

Suddenly it spiked back up again. His Soul Perception. It had been gone so long Michael had almost forgotten about it, had something been blocking it? Was something of that magnitude really possible? However, now that the dark veil has been lifted off of his eyes he could see it, the Soul of an Evil Human writhing beneath the surface of the buried rocks. She was still alive. Whether or not that a good thing or not was unbeknownst to him, but it meant he didn't have a choice any more. He readied his bow and took aim.

"Is something the matter?" asked a warm, feminine voice snapping Michael out of his funk as he was reminded of his mother's soothing voice. It was just May's, however, not his human mother. Her tone was almost motherly though, as if dipped in sweetness and compassion. Michael paused for a few seconds and recalled that May's Soul Perception, like all weapons, weren't quite as up to par as his, since he was a Meister. She didn't see the pulsating beat of the Evil Human's heart beneath the pile of rubble. His hand quivered for a second on his bow. Melody was behind him and already losing consciousness, Ash was in the house probably unconscious as well. He could easily let his mother escape into the woods. No one else knew she was here, he could turn around, take Melody away and into the house and let his mother escape, feign ignorance of the event as a whole. No one would be none the wiser.

"It-It is…" Michael's voice wavered for a second as he focused down at the rubble. He had taken a vow…a vow to protect the world from Evil Humans, below him was one of those very same mo-mo-monsters. Not his mom, a monster. He would fulfill his duty as a study and take her down if need be. "There is an Evil Human pinned down down there," he uttered solemnly. "I think we stand the best chance against it if we shoot at it now" He bit back a welling feeling to stop. He had painted himself into this corner now and now he would finish it. He took aim with his bow and drew it back. A small slender arrow emerged in his hand as he took careful aim. Suddenly he let it go. One of Michael's more unique abilities was the one that allowed him to change the density of his arrows to a certain degree including enough to sink through solid rock or to hit solid rock as it was. This arrow was of the first sort and it was possible for it to completely bypass all stones it was a unique arrow for sure and it was his only shot at ending this fight right now before it escalated.

A large chain of purplish smoke shot up and wrapped around Michael's arrow, halting it in on its path. Marburg stopped out of his hiding spot, a large grin on his face as he crushed the arrow using only the gas. "I'm amazed we get to met again, young'uns. Here I thought for sure you all would've perished by now. I suppose it is just a matter of time though." Suddenly Marburg's entire body dissipated into a green fog and split up in two directions. One drifted over to Noelle and lifting her up into his cloud-like form, the other scurried into the cracks of the rubble towards Michael's mother. He stepped forward and took another shot, but he could already tell they were more outclassed now than they were before.

"Stop!" shouted Michael stepping forward and firing a quick series of arrows down into the rubble. Marburg's gaseous form didn't seem bothered by being shot at. Instead it drifted back to the top with both Michael's mom and Noelle's body in tow. Marburg landed on the ground, dropping them both down onto the ground. Michael's mom was unconscious and her soul was starting to waver. "What did you do?"

"Please I have power equivalent to a God's and you ask me what I did to them," Marburg said as he looked down at the dead bodies. A light blue fog was hanging around their heads. Michael had to guess that it was another extension of his disease-controlling powers. This time it was probable that it was a sleeping sickness or possibly even a coma-inducing germ. "Besides," muttered Marburg as he bent down and lifted up Noelle's arm as if examining her body, "I can do anything I want to them. I did create them after all." A black fog began swirling around Marburg's entire body, "although, both of these two were complete and total failures." An arrow whizzed by his head, but Marburg had good enough intuition and sixth sense to completely avoid the arrow. Instead he stood there and looked at it as it embedded itself into the ground near him. Marbug cracked a smile and turned around to face Michael, "what's the matter, boy, you angry with me?"

"What did you just say," asked, no, demanded Michael. He took a giant and forceful step forward. His foot slammed and sunk into the earth. The weight of his own body was crushing the ground beneath him. Michael lifted his bow back into the air and took aim at Marburg, Marburg snickered and shook his head. He couldn't believe such a loser like this was going against him. Michael quickly pulled back on his bow and produced another arrow, however, this one caused a rise in Marbug. Even May noticed something was distinctly different about it. However, Michael didn't. Instead he shouted again, "what did you just say?"

Marburg's attention was more focused on Michael's arrows than his words. The arrow wasn't just a mass of Soul Wavelength like usual, instead this one had taken on a distinct form. The arrow had grown to possess a silver shaft that ended with a bulbous red arrowhead. At the tail end of the arrow was a large red feather with a single white eye in the middle of it. There were stripes of black running through it at certain intervals, but for the most part it didn't seem like something a 'good guy' would be wielding. And if it's appearance wasn't enough, the energy it was leaking out would've convinced you. It felt evil just to be standing around like all the dark forces in the world had a part in creating the arrow. Marburg stopped moving for a second as he looked over at Michael's arrow, "do you know what that arrow is, boy?"

Michael's eyes didn't drift off of Marburg for a second, but May's attention completely switched. It turned to the side and looked at the arrow that was in her body. She was starting to feel weird it was almost as if the arrow had a mind and soul of its own. She knew Michael's soul like the back of her hand. She had been with it for so long, feeling its warm caress along with her own. This one felt different it felt like a monster. No, it felt like a Kishin. "Michael," May's voice quivered out, trying to reach him. Suddenly the eye on the arrow rolled around and focused on may for a brief second. She felt suffocated all of a sudden and her mouth snapped shut against her will.

"It appears that while I was imprisoned somebody was continuing my research," muttered Marburg as he took another tentative step forward, only for Michael to immediately move the bow with him. The arrow's eye never left him now. "I wonder which one of my colleagues it was." Marburg looked over at Michael and smiled. "Despite how I act I consider myself a doctor, a researcher, and an innovator above witch. All of these things are truly who I am. It started back when I was first busying myself with Lord Death. There was a fine line in between us. I liked witches and hated humans, he was the exact opposite. A difference of opinion, but it had already started to separate us. Split us down the middle, and of course the other two refused to weigh in on it.

"That's when I decided I was going to make a change," brought up Marburg, "maybe I could use my brains to find a way to make humans more tolerable, right? Well, I figured Kishins and Witches got along, it was just the pesky third group of humans that seemed to have the trouble coping. So I got the brilliant idea! Transform the humans into Witches!" Michael's fingers tightened up around the bowstring, did he really just hear him right? Was he really that serious? "However, there were some problems with that idea, so I decided to turn humans into Kishins instead. The two you see before you are just prototypes; lucky for me Lord Death never found out about my experiments and sealed me away for completely different reasons."

"You did that?!" shouted Michael as he took another step forward. Marburg felt himself retreat a little, the arrow was certainly menacing. Marburg was still trying to complete his inspection of it…however, it was too far away for him to give it a truly dedicated look over. Of course, he knew how to get it closer, but he'd rather not take any chances. The arrow definitely wasn't something Marburg wanted to meet face-to-face. It would be better if he took a more cautious approach. It would be best for him to slowly divulge more information making it seem like he still had information left to tell Michael in order to prevent him from shooting that arrow. True, Marburg could just defeat him, but if this arrow was a one-time thing he would be wasting a valuable specimen. This arrow was the greatest advance in his experiments he had ever seen, and it was made without him. As all scientists would be, he felt insulted. Insulted that his greatest work was nearly completed without him.

"I did," brought up Marburg, "well, I fronted the project. I had several other people who studied alongside me. Each for their own reasons I assure you. Not everyone was seeking to repair the bridge between me and Lord Death." Marburg paused for a second as he thought about it. He was mentally recalling the list of everyone who worked on the experiments with him. It was a short list only about four names long. Cham, Meriko, Brog, and Rift. Rift and Brog had died before Marburg was locked up though in the Prison Box, which meant that it had to have been one of the other two. He should've looked them up first when he was brought back to this world. However, his brothers were still the most important people to him.

"I'm tired with you," muttered Michael. Marburg lifted his eyebrows up and looked over at him, a bit interested. "I just wanted to confirm that you did that. Now that I know, I don't care about anything else." Marburg snickered. What was this kid going to do? Last time they met, they were nowhere on the same level as each other and yet he still decided to go up against him. Marburg snickered. That arrow he was using was worrisome, but it still didn't mean anything to him. He remained confident even when Michael let go of the arrow and let it fly.

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><p>Is Marburg crazy? Probably. Is Michael going to let him get away with it? Probably not. Also, you should really look at those names I had Marburg mention about his old workmates. You REALLY should.<p> 


	78. Chapter 77 True Power

**True Power**

Michael's arrow blew through the air at nearly supersonic speed. It ripped through the spectrum and destroyed the path all the way to Marburg's chest. Marburg smiled and his body started to separate into his smoky and smog body. The deadly gases started to come apart turning Marburg into an invincible being once more. He was at his full-power now. It was ridiculous to think that Michael even stood a chance against him even if he did have that arrow. That arrow was definitely on a different level from his other ones, but Marburg was still looking down on them from his level. Or so he thought.

The arrow was definitely on another level from his others. Marburg had recognized that the instant he saw it, but now as he was watching it blasting towards him. He shook with fear as the blast shot into his chest. The glowing arrow somehow was ignoring the fact that Marbrug was splitting up, it didn't care that Marburg should be immune to it. It had a completely different agenda. Its sole goal was to destroy him. Marburg shook as he tried to catch himself. His body came back to its corporal real form. His hand went to his chest where the arrow had entered and exited through. He was lucky that he survived. Not real luck. Marburg had prepared for this moment for a long time, but he never thought a student of the DWMA would drag it out of him. He had prepared for it for his rematch with Lord Death, a second life of sorts. A secret weapon that a kid had dragged out of him. Marburg's eyes flashed with anger as he turned to his enemy. He was ready to exchange blows. The smog began leaking out of him again, but he quickly recoiled as he saw Michael going to draw another arrow.

If one arrow managed to drag his life down like this, he really shouldn't risk taking another one. If he was expecting it he could've came prepared. Secondly, Marburg had to make sure he got his past experiments out of here in safety. He needed to rescue them and take care of them. His goal was to take them back and continue his experiments. He had his past experiments at hand, he needed to continue his work, and thanks to these he could. The problem would be getting out of here with them in hand. His biggest obstacle was the archer standing in front of him. Flying away wouldn't even guarantee an escape; he had a long-ranged attack. Marburg was left with two very simple options. Fight or flight, the most basic of all animal actions. Either way he'd be risking another run-in with that arrow.

Who was he kidding? He was the god of plague and pestilence! Did he have any reasons to fear such a weak boy? More dark blue smoke oozed out of his body. "Let us finish this, boy!" The dark blue smoke oozed out and covered his right hand, taking the shape of a lance. Honestly Marburg preferred non-confrontational fighting to up-close and personal, but still he supposed more importantly than going with his strengths was going with his opponent's weaknesses. That large arrow couldn't be formed or fired if he pressed into Michael's chest. In other words, close-ranged combat meant Marburg would have all the power. He charged forward, aiming for Michael's chest with incredible speed.

Michael quickly and without thought created, loaded, and fired another arrow. It was unsure if it was due to him being rushed or if he just couldn't muster the strength again, but the superior demonic arrow didn't appear this time. A normal shining arrow burst forth. Marburg swatted it to the side and drove in deeper. He was immediately inside Michael's personal space, an arrow would be nearly impossible to shoot at this range. Marburg immediately brought his lance in, spiraling for Michael's exposed side. He had exchanged blows so many times with him once before, Vigrid had sparred with him as well, this man was a thorn in their side. A thorn in their perfect world view, it had to be trimmed to make the rose as beautiful as possible. That was Marburg's view on humanity. Marburg felt something clench down on his hand, preventing him from finishing the thrust.

"For shame, brother," mocked the new intruder, hidden within a white cloak. The face wasn't even revealed. "These are the people who had caused so much trouble to my two brothers. I want to meet them face-to-face." As he brought his sentence to an end, Michael immediately felt a surge of pressure. A whipping madness wavelength surrounded the area. Michael didn't felt driven to the brink of insanity, he felt empty. A gnawing emptiness that needed to be filled. He felt hungry, tired, worthless, all empty negative emotions surging up within him. All in that instant, the instant this man spoke. "If they are truly so bothersome as to do this to both of you, I wanted to meet them face-to-face…show them that I'm the true terror of the family." The cloaked man's hidden face turned over to Michael. His hand flashed out, showing his strewn-out flesh almost as if his skin had disappeared. He swatted the bow out of his hands. Michael muttered something and turned to try and catch May, but the man's two hands shot out and grasped Michael's face, pulling Michael's face up to his.

"Let go of him!" shouted Melody, stumbling to her own two feet and lashing out with Shi, who immediately issued a war cry as ze flew through the air at the latest evil person who showed up. The man chuckled, whipped his arm out and wrapped the flying yo-yo around his arm. His arm snapped down grabbing onto the yo-yo and pulling on it, sending Melody flying forward towards the man. He brought his arm back up and tightened his grip on Melody's face while keeping his other hand trained on Michael's face.

"So you are the two thorns in my brothers' sides," he chuckled to himself as he lifted them both of the ground. "I'm the third brother. I still haven't decided on who was right back in the day, Marburg or Lord Death, but I do know one thing. I love my brothers. And you are a nuisance to them…so I'm left with no choice, but to eliminate you." The man started to apply a constant, but almost idling pressure to both of their jaws. If he increased it by any more power than it was a fair guess to assume he could break their jaws with just his hands. However, suddenly the he completely loosened up, removing all the pressure and let them drop to the ground. "But now is not the time. Any good chef knows the key to a good prime steak is to let it marinate in its own juices. So, three weeks. In three weeks time I'll let you know where I am. Just follow the dead bodies. I'll be busy preparing the feast for you and any guests you choose to bring."

"What if we don't?" said Shi, with a mocking tone. Ze definitely had a problem with authority, although the best time to exercise such problems were not with a demonic monster ready to kill and based off of the words he was using consume them.

"I'll satisfy my hunger otherwise," he muttered turning around and looking towards the village. "I'm sure a couple thousand of souls would do it perfectly. You understand what I'm saying, right?" A creepy smile barely became visible beneath his cloak. Shi paused for a second. Ze was uncertain now. It seemed pretty much like the new monster had won this argument once again. "Are we all in agreement? Good. No need to RSVP, I'll prepare more than enough meals for you and a mountain of your friends. Be sure to bring as many as you can." He smirked as he turned around and started to leave. He paused for a second as if trying to think about something before leaving. Suddenly he turned around and faced Marburg, "sorry, brother, but you're not invited to this one. Maybe a later one." With that he vanished.

Marburg stayed still for a few more seconds as he processed the information. "I suggest you don't go," he muttered beneath his breath. Michael and Melody shared the same confused look on their faces. Wasn't this guy supposed to want to get rid of them? Or was it one of those 'I don't want my brother to destroy you, because I want to be the one to destroy you' thing. "I suggest you come and find me," he said turning his face away from them, "I will at least promise you a quick and painless death."

Michael paused for a second, watching Marburg as he began to leave. The man who did this to his own mother, he debated about rushing him. Michael's fists were composed of steel, surely, at close-range he could swing heavily enough to get a good hit in on him and with his fists it was possibly for him to cause brain damage. However, Michael couldn't do it. The new one, Marburg's latest brother, had sapped all strength from him. He felt tired, exhausted, void of anything. Happiness and even anger seemed to have seeped out of him. It was like the man had devoured everything that Michael had held inside himself. Once Marburg was gone, Michael stood there for a few more seconds before collapsing to the ground. His arms flopped down uselessly by his sides.

"We would've lost completely," Michael muttered. Melody was right besides him, nodded slowly. Both of those two were out of their league right now. Even a Death Scythe would have trouble taking care of one of them. However, there they were with both of them, staring down at them. They were in complete control for those seconds. She felt the same thing Michael did as she stared at Marburg's brother, her body emptying itself of everything. Mind, spirit, hunger, and all emotions seemed to vanish. And she wanted them all back, a depraved feeling that made her feel empty and a strong feeling to feel full that was what it felt like staring at that man's face. Melody shook her head, eager to get the image of the man and that feeling out of her head.

"Let's go," she said quickly jetting up to her feet. Michael stayed on the ground for a few more seconds as he looked up at her. "We got to go get Ash and Xander and then hurry to the DWMA. Lord Death needs to hear about this as quickly possible. We can't waste single minute." She bent down and picked up Shi. Shi looked a little out of it from being thrown like a rag doll in those two men's presence. He seemed sick and ill, but he'd make it. Besides it was his own fault for gorging himself on those pancakes and anything else Michael's dad made. He probably had an even bigger meal for dinner and then a large sundae for desert.

Michael nodded. He felt a little dizzy when he stood up, but he began walking quickly after that. They could get in touch with Lord Death through a million different ways, but the truth was they needed to go back to the DWMA to train. "Come on, May!" Michael shouted waving over to his weapon. She had been swatted pretty far out of his hands, so it would probably be for the best if Michael didn't have to walk over and pick her up and carry her back to the house. Not to mention there was no reason why he should. She could walk by herself and it would be faster this way. He stood there for a few more moments before he realized something was up. She wasn't responding to him at all, she wasn't changing back or anything. "MAY!" he quickly rushed forward over to his partner's side.

* * *

><p>And finally he has emerged. The fourth and arguably most dangerous brother (in a way), power that is on level with Lord Death, a deadly intellect and stomach, and a strong vendetta. Is there a foe in the whole world who should elicit more fear then this man?<p> 


	79. Chapter 78 The Day of Healing is Over

**The Day of Healing is Over**

The crew was back at the DWMA, they had come back earlier than they should have. Most of the school was still in disarray. Many of the buildings had been torn down, it had suffered a horrendous battle while they were facing Vigrid and it was only barely beginning to recover from it. Maybe in a couple of months it would be back to working conditions. They would be blessed if they if they had a couple of months. Marburg's brother hadn't nearly offered them that much time. He had given them a clock of three weeks and they wasted just about one week returning here. Lord Death seemed equally unpleased by the arrival of the news. When he had heard of Marburg's seal breaking he had seemed worried, when Vigrid had attacked them out of nowhere he was worried, but now face-to-face with his third brother surfacing there was a definite look of despair on his face. Vigrid had been temporarily removed from the equation and Marburg was still in recovery, but if they got their act together it would mean the end. Lord Death was still cooped up here, he couldn't break loose and stop this fight. Vigrid had at least been gracious enough to bring the fight to him…

Nonetheless, action was necessary. Lord Death had immediately called up the rest of the Death Scythes told them about his brother's nefarious plot and ordered them to prepare themselves. Enma and Saul were both at the ready along with their Death Scythes, Rochelle and Virgil, but that still didn't mean victory was theirs. Enma was met with a humiliating defeat at the hands of Lord Death while Saul was met with a similar circumstance against Marbrug. It was beginning to become more and more obvious that no one in his entire school could handle his brothers except for him. Lord Death immediately ordered full recalls of the entire student body at this news as well. A full-scale assault might be their own chance at bringing him down. However, the students were busy and reaching them all was no easy task, then there was still the wait for them to come back. Lord Death was worried that the news may not travel fast enough nor will they. If they weren't properly prepared, they wouldn't stand a chance.

However, was the news of his latest brother the worst news he had received. He had wished it was so, but after some initial tests there was news of the far more troubling sort. Michael. His latest 'arrow' was a sign of greater omens. Lord Death had initially left his unfounded worries ignored, but this latest act had proved to him that he had reasons to worry. The act of binding someone's soul especially someone as inexperienced and as undeveloped as Michael's soul was a dangerous practice. True, the man who had done so had saved Michael's life back then, but it seemed that it was a high cost. Michael's soul had diverged from the path of the ordinary human back then. Its so-called 'moral' compass had been destroyed and was pointing at something far more sinister, perhaps even to the degree of Kishin.

Then again, as pointed out before, Lord Death mentioned that he before they were unfounded worries and they still remained mostly unfounded even today. The arrow could've just been brought forth by a fit of rage. Michael's unsound body mixed with his temporarily unsound mind and had an undesired effect on his abilities. It was a possibility, so once more Lord Death had to withdraw from his inclination to take immediate action against it. If it was truly just a simple fact of being brought on by a fit of rage that uncontrolled by a teenager, it just meant that Michael could grow up and reel it in, perhaps turn it into a truthfully powerful weapon. However, until that fact has been decided Lord Death would definitely need to keep an eye on him.

Someone else has already paid the price for that evil weapon.

(-With Michael-)

"Are you okay?" asked Michael as he continued to dote on the upstanding and upright May. He didn't understand how it had happened, but May had apparently suffered massive damage from the fight. Even May's memory seemed cloudy on the subject. Michael guessed it had something to do with Marburg's brother, but that fact was still unsubstantiated. She had passed out mid-fight, but she didn't break out of her weapon form like she would usually do. It was an odd thing to happen, but it wasn't the first time in DWMA history. May had explained it as being 'drained' and rather than being 'knocked out', she just fell unconscious. Michael had believed that her inspector had known something more, but was too relieved when May finally had become conscious that he didn't probe further.

"I was so worried," brought up Eva as she appeared from the behind the curtain. She was still injured, but she had recovered enough to leave the DWMA…sadly just in time for Michael and the gang to come back around and announce the trouble, so what was supposed to be her vacation was cut into equal parts lying on a bed in pain and training for approaching doom. Suffice to say her vacation was going south fairly fast. "It's nice to see you are up and running again. I wouldn't want someone as nice as you to get injured and spend the rest of the vacation in bed as well." The gang chuckled a bit at the use of the word vacation as this was quickly turning out to be anything but. Shi raised a fuss about it, but Melody's and Ash's conjoined efforts quieted him down. Neither of them particularly wanted to hear it, it was their vacation going down the drain as well. They sighed, but decided this wasn't the time to complain.

Lord Death barely filled them in on their new opponent. They weren't sure if it was out of lack of information in the first place, or if Lord Death still had some lingering feelings towards him. It was apparent that unlike Marburg or even Vigrid, this man didn't want to end the human race. He had a completely different opinion from all three of them. He didn't praise them like Lord Death, he didn't desire mass genocide like Marburg, and he didn't believe an incredible purge was in order like Vigrid. He was probably the only one who was handling this situation without any bias. Nonetheless, though, he had set his eyes on the DWMA and that meant he had to be stopped. He did harbor some kind of hatred for the DWMA as they had stopped his brother's goals. True Lord Death was one of those brothers, but it was simply a matter of statistics. Two outweighed the price of one. He had to side with Marburg and Vigrid.

"We can't just sit around worrying," shouted Saul as he charged into the room. Michael, May, and even Eva were all taken by surprise and due to their training immediately turned around with the intention of chucking some of the items around them at the intruder. Saul simply laughed it off and swatted several of the items away and continued in. "We've done a lot of things together. And I'm impressed with you guys!" He swatted Michael on the back, "your friends are already training downstairs. No time to waste and all that other crap." He wasn't extremely happy with the premise of spending his vacation training either. Nonetheless, he was sucking it up and coming to work. "Your meister is down there as well," Saul said motioning to Eva, "although…I think she's sleeping rather than training." Eva blushed a bit at her own partner's incompetence. She thanked Saul profusely before immediately getting up and rushing downstairs.

"Can't let even the slacker show us up, can we?" Michael asked turning around to face May. May nodded and got up from bed, although she had to brace herself temporarily on one of the bedposts. This act of weakness did not go undetected by either Michael or Saul, but May insisted she was alright. They went forward, May with unencumbered eagerness to put this day of bed rest, behind her and Michael, with a little bit of worries for his dear companion's health. However, his own trust in May and the fact that he knew she wouldn't just risk her life for no reason made him go. That is until Saul clamped his hand down on both of their shoulders and pulled them back in.

"I'm glad you are ready for training, it is nice to see young people so eager," Saul laughed, thinking back to the good ol' days. Today it was a job so he dragged his butt here, but back then even that was a remarkable thing for him to do. "But I've been given orders to put you two through some special training." Despite laughing just minutes ago, he looked serious. It was clear that he was more concerned about what this 'special training' would do than the fact that May just lifted herself out of bed after a several day slumber. "I hope you are ready. These orders came straight from Lord Death himself, so there's no over-turning them." Michael nodded, slowly, which prompted May to nod as well. Whatever Saul had in store for them was something they knew they would have to deal with.

* * *

><p>Special Training...that sounds difficult. Whatever will it be?<p> 


	80. Chapter 79 The Test

**The Test**

Michael and May were brought to a dark chasm. There was only a small crack in the ground, but they could already tell that within it there was no source of light, the small shred of light from the sun was the only way they would be able to see anything once inside. Even from here as they looked into it, the ground looked far away…and wet. They could make out a small land mass that seemed to be composed of pebbles. Saul and Rochelle were standing by with them, although neither one of those two seemed interested in the chasm. They both had a 'been there, done that' kind of opinion of this mess. It was fairly reassuring to know that these two both had accepted this mission and took it on.

"So, what are we here for?" asked Michael. He had a sinking feeling it involved going into the dark chasm, wandering around blindly for hours for some superfluous goal. Especially since May had just woken up from what could be a potentially fatal side-effect of meeting Marburg and his brother. It made no sense, it seemed like they were putting their lives on the line once more for something that they had no idea about.

"You two have been partners for awhile now," brought up Saul, Michael and May looked at each other and supposed he was right. It seemed they first met forever ago, but it also seemed like just last week, it was a vivid memory in both of their minds it was the day their whole word changed…for the better. "It must mean that you trust each other a lot." Michael felt a little annoyed that THAT was his point, he was for some reason expecting a big major revelation from him, but if that was it Michael felt he'd be better off training with the rest of the gang rather than with him. "That trust is the only thing you'll be able to rely on in here. Your own five senses will be completely destroyed once in there. The darkness of the cave will overtake you; you won't see a thing for miles. The water that flows in is from the sea and has a ripe fresh sea scent that will burn into your nostrils. The sound of the sea lapping against the stone walls will eventually be all you can hear. Of course, the sea lapping against the wall had polished the walls to a fine, smooth surface, so, all the rooms will even feel exactly the same."

"So, how are we supposed to get out?" asked Michael plainly and simply. It was a fine question and the only really important one at this point. Once in he needed to get out, nothing asides from that even mattered.

"I've only been saying 'you' and by that I mean only you will be entering the cave," pointed out Saul. "Your sixth sense will be the only thing you can rely on and the so-called North of your compass will be May." Saul grabbed onto her shoulders and shoved her in front of Michael. "She will be stationed at the exit. You will head towards her soul at all times. Get a good look at her now, it will be the last time you see this body." Saul placed his hands beneath May's breasts as if to exemplify them. Which promptly earned him a hit from Rochelle, both Michael and May wanted to hit him, but they were too flustered from being involved in Saul's horrible act that they couldn't quite move quick enough to get a piece of him, although May's hands did cover up her breasts despite the fact that her shirt wasn't anywhere close to invisible and covered them up well enough.

"Anyways," said Rochelle, continuing up where Saul was and giving a brief cough to hopefully cut the tension down. "The point of this training is to test trust, train your Soul Perception, as well as strengthen your mind. It will be lonely down there…completing this task is not easy. It's a long walk, treacherous conditions all the way, maddening thoughts will fill your head down there."

"A sound mind and a sound body is what's needed to complete this test," said Saul coming back to and quickly taking a swig from his flask. It was probably more for medication than pleasure though…he had a large bruise forming o his head from where Rochelle hit him. "If your body is too weak, you'll collapse in there from lack of food, water, or just plain exhaustion…in your case you may break down for other reasons. If your mind is too weak, you'll may manage to climb out of the dark hole and see the light of the sun again, smell the fresh air again, hear the song of birds…but you'll be a different person than who you were going in."

"So, how was it when you two did this mess?" asked May, hoping to hear some good news from the two of them. After all, they didn't particularly seem to stressed about this kind of trial, despite the fact that they had made it out to be some kind of death run.

"We did when my old partner died," mentioned Saul as he took a swig from his flask. Rochelle looked to the side and slightly closed her eyes. She was a friend of Saul's wife…and old partner, so the thought of her death kind of stung close to home for both of them, but Saul kept going. "I was in a bad place then. I didn't have anyone to talk to, me and Rochelle rarely talked before her death and we never talked after it. So, bottom line this training became kind of necessary for me…however, with my partner gone there wasn't many people I trusted. Probably my fault, I wasn't particularly well-liked back in the day." May and Michael could believe that. Saul probably turned most people off and Rochelle didn't seem like the kind of girl to try and break through his rather asinine personality.

"Well, in my opinion nobody else knew how to have fun…so, when Lord Death brought up the test and asked for volunteers to stand at the end for me and guide me through…nobody raised their hands…nobody particularly wanted to pull me out of the abyss I was in. They just wanted me to keep on falling…who knew where I'd be if it wasn't for a certain someone meekly raising her hand and saying she'd do it…now for most people this wouldn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence in them. A random stranger, drudging along unwillingly to help you out…especially if you could see the scared look on her face! She made it look like she thought I was going to eat her alive!" Saul laughed and shouted, pounding his leg as he remembered that day fondly. Rochelle just simply looked away, not wanting to be brought down to this level.

"In the end, though…I trusted her," Saul muttered beneath his breath, barely loud enough for them to hear him, but they did. "I made it to the end thanks to her. I'm thankful for that. Not only that, but I set a record! The quickest to make it to the end! It only took me one and a half weeks!" Michael's and May's energy suddenly plummeted. It looked and sounded fairly simple, but the quickest was one and a half week it meant that this trial was nothing to sneeze at. "Come on puff out your chest! Sing happy songs! You may just beat me!"

Michael nodded cementing that idea in his head. His goal was to beat Saul's time. It seemed simple enough. Michael was provided with a week's worth of rations, anything over that time and he would just have to deal with it. Of course, as a golem the week's worth of rations were replaced with a simple repair kit he could use if it came to that. Michael basically had a handicap with that body.

"Okay now," said Saul as he stood up and moved for the chasm, "it won't be pleasant down there, so I seriously hope you are ready for this." Michael stepped forward, tentatively at first, but after a reassuring thumbs-up from May he went forward with a little bit more confidence. He stopped and hesitated for just a second at the entrance before jumping in. Saul walked over to it and gave May and Rochelle the signal to move to the exit. "We're going to have to wait awhile for them to get situated, so until then we'll just wait here and get comfortable." Michael had a look on his face that obviously said that he wished Saul would've pointed that out earlier.

Already Michael started to feel what Saul was talking about. Being cut off from your five senses. The darkness was all around him he couldn't see left from right and as Michael stepped forward and was basically brought down to knee level in an instant due to a sudden drop off, even where up and down were was impossible for him to decipher. Michael was hoping he could get accustomed to this weird situation before May got in position, but the only thing he had learned from this little two second excursion that a week and a half time was truly a miracle. Michael twisted around and tried to stare down where he thought he had to go. It was difficult to know for sure…he was still blind and the sound of another wave of water smashing into the ground made it even harder for him to focus. It was truly a maddening situation. A week…could one survive for that long down here? Cut off from civilization, friends, and even the warmth of the sun? It appeared that the real battle had already started the instant Michael had jumped down here. Saul said it was test of both one's body and mind to see if they are sound…Michael could see that now. It wasn't going to be an enjoyable week and a half, that much was already painfully obvious.

(-with Rochelle-)

"Okay, now remember once we drop you off here you cannot move, okay?" cautioned Rochelle once more as the helicopter they were in slowly started to drop down to the ground level. May nodded once more, she was fine. It was Michael she was worried about, he was tough all right, but this is the first time since they had been teamed up that they had actually been separated for this long. May felt slightly embarrassed by that fact, but Weapons and Meisters rarely split up while in the school the only time they did do such a thing especially a period of a week was during vacations and even those were rare.

The helicopter dropped off and touched the ground. May and Rochelle stepped off and took their time getting into position. The area was a small clearing amongst a bunch of rocks. There was a small tent to the side as well as basic commodities set up around the clearing for May to use in case this really did drag out to be an incredibly long venture. They landed and they got set-up, small things at first, but Rochelle wasted no time in calling Saul. May just shrugged as far as she was concerned she would just be relaxing for these next few days…true it wouldn't be a perfect vacation like the one she had given up in order to do this, but, hey, she was used to battling devils and witches…a few days in a tent was nothing.

Rochelle nodded as she got word from Saul that they would start the test now. Rochelle quickly went back onboard the helicopter and asked one last time, "are you sure you are up for this?" May nodded, it was simple from her perspective. She believed Michael wouldn't break down, if he was ready for it so was she. Besides she had the easy part. Rochelle wore a pained look on her face almost as if she wasn't sure they were ready for such a task, but in the end she sighed, yelled 'good luck' over the whir of the helicopter blades once more and they were off.

* * *

><p>This 'training' takes a little while longer then it should, but I enjoyed writing it through and through.<p> 


	81. Chapter 80 The Training

**The Training**

"Okay, you can go," called Saul over the crashing waves. Michael looked up and squinted against the bright light. The darkness was still all around him and he was lucky that he heard Saul shouting over the rushing waves. He could barely hear anything aside from the waves smashing against the walls as well as the waves rushing around his metal legs. He wondered for a second if the water was cold. If that was part of the test, but he couldn't feel anything due to his golem body. He lowered his body down and dipped his fingers into the water as if thinking that he could feel it with his fingers. He couldn't of course. He couldn't tell if the water was cold or boiling hot…or even if it was wet. He rubbed his two fingers together as if testing out the water.

Then again his challenge had nothing to do with the water. It had to do with getting out of this place. He looked upwards and towards the darkened hole that laid before him. He took a tentative step forward and made his way through the darkness. He was a bit worried as he tried to feel his way through. He pressed his arms against the solid cave walls around him and pressed to make sure they were sturdy. He was a bit wobbly on his own two feet, the ground was slick and slippery. If he hurried too much he would probably slip and fall on his butt. Nonetheless he kept trudging forward through this dark cave. The water was steadily getting higher and higher. As he tried to lift his feet up he could feel the water's resist and try to pull him back down. Nonetheless Michael kept his head low and tried to push on through. He wasn't going to let a little water stop him.

He lifted his head and wit his Soul Perception he managed to catch a glimpse of his faithful partner's soul once more. He realized that never before has it ever seemed so warm and inviting to him. He shrugged it off. Saul said this would take him about a week to complete if he managed to do it without getting distracted too much, Michael was fairly certain if he let his mind wander in here too much it would take even longer. He walked forward one hand outstretched in front of him to make sure he didn't run into any jutting rocks and another pressed against the wall on his left side. He had heard once that you could escape any maze as long as you kept one hand pressed against the same side of the wall throughout the entire walk. He was just making sure he didn't get lost. He trained his eyes forward and looked on. But looked on into what? The only thing he could see was a massive swirling darkness in all corners of his vision. A completely dark cave was swallowing him up and he had no option in the matter. He blinked once as if trying to concentrate and then focused forward. He caught sight of May's soul once more and let out a heavy sigh. He felt a little bit more at peace just by looking at it. He stumbled forward for a brief second, but he quickly rebound from that and kept up a steady pace. He paused as he slowly trudged through the maze-like caverns taking a brief respite as he came upon a wall right in his way. He reached forward and tried to reach around it, but quickly found that while both of his hands could go to either side of it…he couldn't go all the way around. This was a partition. He was faced with the choice of going left or going right. He looked back over to May, hoping that this was just a test and that she knew the answer. However, he realized that he had no idea if she knew the answer and was broadcasting it to him. She didn't seem to be bothered…as if she didn't even notice that Michael was worried all the way in here…than again how could she?

Michael moaned and tried to step forward and through the dark caves. He felt the cave walls, but he couldn't tell anything. Did they reconnect later on? Did they stay separated? Was this a part of the test. Michael could feel his stress building as he tried to take a small step forward and through the water, once more he felt the horrible sucking power of the water trying to keep his foot planted as if warning him he was going down the wrong path. However, he knew that wasn't it. The water was a sentient being, it was just his nerves eating away at him as he made another slight step forward to get out. He paused and hesitated again and again at this spot. He realized the more time he spent here the more time he was wasting, completing this trial in a week was quickly becoming a pipe dream.

(-End of Day 1-)

May was just stretching out, an unmatchable boredom was just starting to overcome her. She looked around and saw her small tent and other modest commodities. She yawned and got up. She looked up to the dark sky and saw the brilliant white moon descending. She was about to call Rochelle and ask for a helicopter to come by and pick her up and take her home…but she realized that she couldn't do that. She turned around and stared back at the cavernous abyss in front of her. Michael was still in there if she moved from this spot then he'd lose track of his goal and get lost in there….May frowned as she looked at the pitch-black cave in front of her. Her partner was stuck in there.

She moved back over to her tent and opened it up. It was a modest set-up honestly she had next to nothing out here, a few changes of clothes, a little cot to rest in, and the similar items. There was nothing here that she was particularly fond of. She realized that she was being selfish after all Michael was trapped in a cavern with no light or hope, only her own soul to guide him out of there, but still…this set-up was definitely quite a few step downs from her original place.

She just needed to rest here. Michael had the hard part. She just needed to lie her head down and sleep, stay here and help Michael find his way out.

(-Day 2-)

May yawned and shook herself awake. The morning sun had just set in. Her stomach just grumbled from a slight hunger that was common in the morning especially after a stressful day…however, May looked over the small campsite and soon moaned in annoyance. There was no food around here. There was no electricity, so no refrigerator…and nothing else of that kind. She shook her head and forced herself to look at things from Michael's perspective. Michael was stuck in that cave. She reached in and took out her cell phone. She'd just call Melody up and ask her to bring food out. Surely she'd make the run…if May could get a hold of her. No cell phone reception out here. May angrily threw her cell phone down to the ground and moped back to her bed. Is this just another part of the test to see how long she can go without food…cause if it was that was just twisted. Maybe Rochelle or Saul would realize their mistake and come back?

(-With Michael-)

Michael trudged through the dark waters, which seemed to have been steadily growing higher. It was no up to mid-thigh as he moved through it sluggishly. It seemed no matter how hard he carried on. His legs kept getting heavier with every step until he was prone just to shuffle them through the water. As he took another step he felt his leg get sucked into the muddy ground beneath him, disappearing beneath the surface. The sudden change made him lose his balance and sent him tumbling forward briefly. His arms stretched out and managed, through sheer luck, to grab a hold of a large rock and stay above water. "Crap…" he said wiping his brow clear and looking on into the darkness. He realized that doing so only made his heart sink deeper than his foot. There was no light. He didn't even know why he bothered to look. His eyes were slowly starting to adjust to the lack of light, but even then there was nothing for him to really see. The cave was carved out like a tunnel, no cave paintings on the wall, no crystals glittering, not even a root from a tree bursting out. It was a mind-numbingly boring sight.

"Heh heh."

Michael turned around and almost out of instinct drew an imaginary arrow from an imaginary bow. He paused for a second and despite not having a weapon in his hand, he didn't lower it. He kept his hands in that position and slowly looked around him as if he could scare his opponents off with an invisible (and non-existent) weapon. It took him a few seconds to calm down. He lowered the imaginary bow and grabbed his head. "I'm starting to hear things down here…great. Maybe after countless battles to the death against monsters I'm finally losing it."

This was a test of both the mind and body. If the body is too weak you'd collapse and die in this tunnel. If the mind is too weak you'd come out a changed man. That was what Saul had warned him about. Apparently being alone in the dark after battling countless evil Kishins your mind just kind of broke down. Michael shook his head and tried to think happier thoughts than those that kept telling him he was screwed. He tried to trudge on further into the cave, but the wet mud beneath his feet kept letting loose hideously, wet, slopping sounds with every step. He looked up and saw May's warm, inviting soul in front of him. He smiled and kept walking forward. He was thankful that his partner hadn't abandoned him yet. He walked a little further, trying to find his way out.

"Heh heh!"

(-end of Day 2-)

Michael slugged against the wall and sat down. He opened up one of the small repair kits and ran over his body, doing a short and brief inspection of his body. He trusted his mind. His mind hadn't changed on him, but for some reason despite all the trouble this body had been through with him. Michael still didn't trust it. He still felt like it was a foreign intruder in his world. Like something else had crept up on him and stole his real body leaving him with his piece of crap. He felt almost cheated…he felt angry that it had happened to him. He knew it was to save his life, but…but still why wasn't he just allowed to go down! Go down like a human rather than live like…like…like a freak! He picked up a nearby rock and lifted it into the air, originally intending to smash his own leg, but he paused before he even lowered the rock. He shook his head. Things like this were normal for him…he had gotten used to the urge to smash this infernal body. Normally when that happened he would call up May or Canary the nurse who had attended to his body when he first got it, but that was gone now. His lifeline was gone…

No…it wasn't. Michael looked up and saw his lifeline. May's glowing soul, still radiating for him at the end of this cave. He couldn't quit just yet. As long as she was there he would trudge on. He would make it out of here in one piece. May was his partner before he had become a golem and she was still his partner. She was the reason he was holding on. That soul at the end of the tunnel was the reason he managed to drop the rock off to the side and walk forward again.

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><p>I stated before that this is an unnecessarily long piece of the story line and I'm sticking with it...but it was for me to write and hopefully fun for you guys (or is it just one guy now?) to read.<p> 


	82. Chapter 81 Insane

**Insane?**

Walking…that was what Michael's mind was concerned about. It was the middle of Day 4…maybe, even a little after that, but Michael didn't know. He had lost track of all sense of time. Instead his mind was centered around his steps. This was number 3,967…3,968…3,969…aaaannnnddddd 3,970. Michael's feet resisted his steps each and every time, the water had slowly built up to his waist and he was wondering how much longer it would be until he was underwater. He was sure a normal person might've turned back around simply due to the sheer cold of the water, but Michael's golem body couldn't even feel the water lap against his body. He had to wonder about Saul completing this task in just one and a half weeks…it seemed so odd. The water made every single one of his feet stick to the bottom of the cave. He couldn't see anything. He was counting his own goddamn foot steps to keep himself busy! What kind of maddening task was this! Why the hell was it necessary for him to take it anyways! He wondered if he could just turn back and head out the way he came. What were the consequences for doing such?

"Heh heh!"

And that goddamn maddening laugh! It came out every so often and it ticked Michael off to no end. He was normally somebody who could be seen as prestige as he rarely ever lost his temper, he was used to hanging out with Shi, but this laugh was starting to tick him off like never before! Even Shi couldn't match this annoying voice! He turned around again and tried to look for it like he had done every time so far in search of something that could tell him where the voice was coming, where the voice could possibly be emanating from, but just like every other time he found nothing. Unless these walls could talk Michael was just imagining things. Or something far more sinister was lurking in these walls around him. He shook that thought right out of his head as he continued to walk forward…now what number was he on? He sighed as he couldn't remember and decided to just start over.

(-With May-)

May was still strung out at her small camp. She had a nearby lake that gave her fresh water, but the wood was harder to come by. If she traveled too far away from camp than she couldn't act as Michael's lighthouse, so she was basically stuck here. She double checked her phone connection, not just for the first time. She has probably checked it dozens if not hundreds of times by now. No reception. She sighed and her head just kind of heaved down as she realized how much longer she'd probably be out here. Unlike Michael she had her phone on her which told her the exact number of days since this training had began. It was hard to know who had it worst, the guy who had no idea or the girl who knew exactly how achingly slow it was going.

She had to do something to keep her mind off of it. She had beat her high score on some games on her phone numerous times now with all this free time. She had tried her best not to just sit around and waste time, but it seemed like that is what it came down to. She had originally tried to improve her own aim with her half-human, half-weapon form, but after a few shots of that she realized how tedious it was. She had browsed through her pictures on her phone numerous times now. She just couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen. She had flipped the photos of her and Michael, reminding herself why she was here.

(-Day 7-)

The days had all gone by in a blur. May laid out on her bed, her stomach rumbling. She was hungry. Her poise and manners had all disappeared. This was the test…May rolled over onto her stomach and gazed at the cave. When Michael came out that was going to be Rochelle's and Saul's signal to come and get them…or something…her mind was gone, taken over by a crude need for food. She couldn't focus, she could feel her soul wavering. A sound mind, phbt…her mind was currently completely focused on food and nothing else, not much sound about that! A sound body? May looked over her scrawny body growing even scrawnier…she didn't fully fit the conditions any more. She just hoped Michael would when he came out…Michael?

Right, May almost forgot she had to keep her soul up and strong. She couldn't let it waver for a second or else Michael would get lost. This was taxing on her whole body and mind…she couldn't focus, her cell phone got zero reception. She couldn't quit. She had to stay here…she had to stay here for Michael. She slowly felt her hand losing grip strength on her phone, which had long died due to lack of batteries. Suddenly her hand just gave up and let the phone slide out of her hand and into the sand below. Maybe…maybe another nap would do her fine.

(-With Saul and Rochelle-)

Saul and Rochelle were currently playing poker, shuffling the cards about and keeping an eye on the kids. They had trained a little while ago to keep up their strength, but they knew an excessive amount of training was bad as well…so this is how they got their down time, keeping an eye on their students. Well, some of them were keeping a better eye on their students than others.

"Relax, Rochelle," mocked Saul as he dealt out another hand, hoping to keep up his winning streak. He had spent a lot of times in bad places and card skill was one of the talents needed to survive there, so Saul was nearly unbeatable at poker especially when playing against someone like Rochelle who wore her feelings on her sleeves. "They'll come back alive. Just give them time, trust me. Faith in your partner and faith in your students. That's what this entire school is about after all."

"I know, Saul," wavered Rochelle as she turned her head, briefly to him and then snapped it back to where the kids would be. "But I keep thinking back to when we did this challenge. I mean…I felt my body breaking down over there. Hearing that it would only take you a week…I started to lose track of time, started to grow hungry, I thought about leaving you several times…and sometimes I still think I should've…" said Rochelle as she looked back over Saul as he glugged more alcohol straight from the bottle. "It is just taxing to think about it. I mean, you know the only thing you have to do is go off to the side and out of the camp and someone will come to save you…but you know if you do that you are killing your partner."

"How is that any different from combat?" asked Saul as he stuffed some crackers into his mouth. "In battle, trust needs to be absolute. If your thought wavers or if my thought wavers for even a second…then I'd rather you'd have left me alone in there to die." Saul looked over his hand and put two cards down and then drew another two cards, he looked more upset at his hand than the trial Michael and May were currently going through. "This test is meant to push that bond to the absolute limit. Not very many people could survive this which is why we don't put everyone through it. Only those who need to know that no matter what happens there partner will be there for them to keep them grounded."

"What was it like in there for you?" asked Rochelle, cozying up to Saul for the first time ever, making it obvious that she had been drinking just as much as he had been. Though for her it was more to calm her nerves than anything else. "I mean, I remember my week and a half sitting out there, growing hungrier and hungrier with each passing day, the sun beating down and nothing but some sand and a stream to keep me busy. And then on day 10 you come strolling out of there a smug and stupid look on your face and say 'I can't believe you were really stupid enough to wait here for me for this long, yet somehow…I knew you were.' I was so mad I wanted to punch you! If I had had the energy I would've."

Saul sighed and looked up to the sky. "The first day wasn't bad. You got high spirits and think you are making great progress. The second day starts to seem to drag on, you have lost track of time by then, so you just keep walking forward believing in your partner. By the third day something goes wrong and you know it. Something just isn't right about that cave…the fifth day is the worst. The fifth day is when you start to doubt your partner. That's the day when you start wondering if they really did leave you…their soul has started to weaken from the hunger, so you see it waning and flickering and you think… 'they left me, they really left'…you kick it into overdrive then, start shouting, feeling the salty taste of the water sting your tongue, but you just want to get out of there at any cost. The seventh day…on the seventh day you go insane."

"Insane?" parroted back Rochelle looking at Saul.

"You knew it was going to happen eventually, but on the seventh day you just kind of slide into that feeling, you get lost in it and give in. Giving in to insanity is better than fighting it when your mind is that taxed and your body is that heavy," Saul said looking back. "That's when the danger comes in. That's when you are faced with one question. Will you be able to drag yourself back to being sane ever again? It really is all a question of what memories you have. What you remember and what keeps you grounded."

"You thought of Dahlia?" asked Rochelle, looking back up at Saul. Saul looked down to the ground and shuffled his hand close, completely ignoring the game of poker. He nodded slowly. "Big ol' softy Saul!" laughed Rochelle as she kicked back again, beginning to lose consciousness from the drinking. "Big ol' softy Saul." Saul pushed her aside and let her head hit the seat. He was nobody's pillow. Saul stood up and looked out to where May was standing and watched as her soul weakened from the strain of lack of food as well as the burden that she was the only thing keeping Michael alive.

Big ol' softy Saul, perhaps he was, but sometimes he couldn't allow himself to be soft. He knew that in this one moment he had to rely on his students more than he could anything else. He couldn't help them, those were the rules…and if they failed…he suppose he was the one who was going to have to clean-up after them. Even if he just barely stepped out, tired as all get-out and falling apart from the mental and physical pain like Saul was when he completed the trial. Even if his mind was broken, Saul was fine with that. He knew those were two of the possible outcomes and he could live with himself if that happened…but if he had to kill one of his own students because they had fallen to the dark side…Saul didn't know if he could handle that. However, as Saul looked on he knew there was a chance it would come down to that. A chance that Michael wouldn't be human when he came out…he could come out as a Kishin.

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><p>Another dramatic close! Will there be a Kishin at the end of this road or a golem?<p> 


	83. Chapter 82 Kishin?

**Kishin?**

"I'm BORED!" shouted Shi, pounding his fists on the table of the small room. It was Michael's room for the time being Shi, Melody, Ash, and Xander were sadly forced to keep coming here again and again for the past week or so to maintain the rooms. They weren't given a reason why Michael and May were incapable of doing so, only that they needed them to do so in their stead until they got back…which could be any amount of time. Of course, Shi and Xander weren't much help…then again from Ash's point of view neither was Melody.

"No, you are doing it all wrong!" shouted Ash stealing the squirt bottle from Melody and spraying the floor again. "Circular motions going in to out over and over again is the best way to deal with germs. After the first circular motion is done with the lime scented cleaner it is best to go over it again with the lemon scented cleaner this time going in circular motion, except in the opposite direction. After all that is done if possibly it is best go over it with bleach to make extra certain no germs would survive in it." Melody just recoiled, based on the smell of the eighteen different cleaners Ash was using she doubted any animal could survive in here. She'd have to remember to offer to let May and Michael stay with her when all of this was done so they didn't have to return to this foul smelling house. "Man, aren't you guys all so lucky to have a friend with the cleaning knowledge I have?" question Ash flipping his friends a thumbs-up sign showing he's happy to help.

"Ash, stop it," said Xander as he reclined on a nearby chair with an open manga he had 'borrowed' from Michael's room. "Can't you see you are scaring these people?" Ash shot Xander an evil look and Xander just shrugged it off. Ash wasn't particularly funny or scary when he was going on and on about the different household cleaners like which ones were better for windows and which were better for mirrors…but still Xander thought as he moved his hand over and picked up his glass of juice. There were some ways to get some fun out of it. Xander stuck his arm out, attempting to spill the glass all over the floor Ash had just cleaned, but a bucket of water came crashing for Xander's head at that exact moment along with an incredibly stern and almost demonic look from Ash. Xander brought his arm back in and set it on the table, giving up on torturing his partner any further. "Well, next question, why are you here?" Xander turned his attention over to Helena, who was basically collapsed out on Michael's couch, taking up the entire sofa in such way that should be humanly impossible, but from the look one Helena's face was quite comfortable.

"I'm here because my weapon wanted to help out," said Helena rolling over onto her side and into another position that shouldn't be comfortable, but nonetheless Helena seemed to perfectly fine sleeping through it. Her weapon, Eva, had moved on through the house, cleaning up and straightening things out, which seemed rather easy as Michael was rather well-kept, probably from his father's military background. And unlike Ash she wasn't worrying about the smallest microscopic bread crumb (which only embarrassed Xander as Ash had actually brought a microscope to help him clean.)

Xander moaned, "you know what I'm going to go tidy up Michael's room." He flipped himself off of the chair and into air, almost knocking over his glass of juice in the process, but he managed to steady it before Ash killed him.

"Great," Melody chimed in, standing up and moving towards Xander, "I'll go help." She was thankful for any excuse she could get to get away from Ash, the cleaning freak, and Shi's incessant whining. However, she barely managed to walk four steps in that direction before Xander stopped her.

"Uh-uh," he said, waggling his finger in front of her face. "I don't think so." Melody stepped back, a little surprised by his actions. "This is a guy's room we are talking about. I cannot in good conscience let a girl like you into it. It is just not right."

"You seemed pretty thrilled to go into May's room when we were over at her place," Melody brought up, trying to counter Xander's logic and get out of there.

"Are you saying that the reason why you want to go to Michael's room is the same reason why I wanted to go into May's room?" asked Xander, lifting an eye at Melody's statement. Melody knew a trap when she saw one and decided to back off for now…prying into this conversation would probably only get her accused of some sort of crime.

(-With May-)

It was the night of the tenth day May was stretched out on her bed, all energy gone from her. Every so often she would muster enough strength to get up and get another drink of water, but for the most part, she didn't move. Her head was constantly focused on the entrance to the cave, waiting for Michael to make his appearance…it should be any day now. A week and a half were up…he'd be coming back soon. Those thoughts kept bounding about in her head as she thought about it. Her head gently hit her pillow as she drifted off to sleep, she didn't even have too much energy to stay awake anymore.

(-with Saul-)

Saul and Rochelle had moved in closer, neither one of them wanting to miss the moment. They knew Michael still had another day or two left in there…maybe even three if he really dragged his feet. However, nonetheless they had to be ready at the moment's notice. They didn't have any time to lose the instant they saw Michael if he had changed…they would have to shoot him down. It was their job, sadly. It was how they were supposed to act. However, it still sat wrong in both of their stomachs. They didn't like how it was turning out. Saul's fingers twitched on Rochelle's boomerang-like form. Saul just had to hope that no matter what Michael would hold on strong.

Saul leaned back as he tried to calm down. His nerves were being electrified at the thought, he felt uneasy at the thought…but he also felt excited at the prospect. The fact of the matter is that Michael had a run-in with two massive powerful beings. Marburg and Vigrid had both been his opponents at one point in time…if he could overcome this then he would definitely reveal a new power. Lord Death had described his attack as an arrow made of his Kishin energy…Saul had to wonder if it was possible to channel that into pure positive energy. Imagine Kishin Energy mixing with the energy of a Death Scythe, it could become the most potent weapon there is in the new world. Saul would just have to wait and see if he could survive this and even then if something like that was even possible. And even then…if the risk was worth it.

He wondered if Michael or May had put it together. May suddenly falling unconscious wasn't something that Marburg or his brother had done. It was something that had occurred because of that arrow. Kishins tend to devour souls and as much as Saul didn't want to admit it, that's probably what had happened there. Michael may not have realized it, but that arrow was going after the closest soul it could get. It was attacking May, trying to devour her soul. Saul found it hard to believe that May had no idea, but he supposed it was possible. She may not have known that her own partner was trying to eat her. Without a doubt it was something that wouldn't be a good thing to hear. Saul just collapsed back and tried to relax, it was irritating trying to imagine their reactions mainly because he knew they wouldn't even be pleased. They didn't even know that the main reason for this test was to drag that Kishin out of Michael so he could beat it down with his own will. Saul hated to imagine what kind of look was on Michael's face right about now.

(-With Michael-)

Michael was smiling, he wasn't enjoying himself or anything of the short. If anything he had become delirious from lack of sun or conversation. No human contact outside of the voices pounding in his head, it was almost as if he was drifting away. Michael stumbled forward, snapping his eyes from left to right. He was stumbling through a pitch-black cave in a near delirious state of mind. His only thought was to go forward…go to May. His head crawled up and looked around. May's soul was wavering there were times when her soul didn't even show up at all. May's body was weakening and so was Michael's focus. He moved forward again his focus wasn't what people should be worrying about it was his 'faith'.

He had been in here for god knows how many days…it felt like weeks maybe even months to him being this cut-off from society and all the time he has kept his eyes trained forward for that one light at the end, but then it would vanish for a second he would lose sight of it. He would feel an unimaginable sense of dread welling up in him. At first he thought of it as just his problem that he had just looked in the wrong direction, however, that feeling slowly transformed into worry and from there it became more like anger. He was upset, it seemed like she was just playing around with him, acting to be there and then disappearing. It hurt his heart more than his body to imagine that the partner he had put so much faith into would be taunting him like this.

"_Heh he!" _Michael paused it was that voice from last time. He had been hearing that inane childish laughter for a long time now and he had to wonder what was causing it. Was it just his mind slowly going insane? _"How does it feel?" _Michael looked back over his shoulder. It usually didn't speak so clearly. It was usually just laughter. He shook his head and kept going forward. _"You actually had the ability to fire an arrow at your own mother trying to kill her? Do you think a normal human would've been able to do that?" _Once more Michael swung around and accidently drew another invisible arrow. Nobody was around him, he must've just been going insane. However, if nobody was saying these words…did that mean that it was him? He was the one thinking these things?

"_Trying to kill your mother is something that a Kishin would try." _Michael paused in his steps and let his hands drop down to his side. What was up with this voice? What was it trying to say? _"You know it all too well, don't you? That swelling feeling that has taken root in your body. You want to let it all out, it is a weight on your shoulders and you want to get rid of it. You want to let your inner Kishin out, that arrow you used was a fine representation of it. You do know how that arrow got so strong, don't you? It wasn't just that you tried really, really hard. It wasn't that you just believed in yourself. Such childish fantasies don't exist in this world…if they did would you have had to shoot at your mother? No, that power came from May. True strength doesn't come from inside of you…it comes from KILLING OTHERS! HEH HE HE HE!"_

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><p>Man...I really did enjoy writing this chunk of the story line. I like it when the main character seems like a villain and starts to doubt themselves. When they are all happy go-lucky it can get kind of boring. (Yeah, from somebody who likes One Piece where Luffy rarely doubts himself, its surprising). Oh, right, why am I uploading today? My weekends got a little bit screwy (like totally completely screwy.) I should(?) be back on track by next weekend, but life's funny that way, ain't it?<p> 


	84. Chapter 83 Out in the Open

**Out in the Open**

Saul shot up. It was the twelfth day since Michael had gone into the cave. And from Saul's Soul Perception he was coming out today. His perception was a little muddled from the anticipation and anxiety of waiting…as well as the alcohol. So he still couldn't tell if Michael was a Kishin or not. He hoped not, but now was no time for hope. With Marburg still active a new threat looming in the distance it was possible that bigger troubles would be coming, hesitation of Saul's part now wouldn't be kindness it would be murder for May and anyone else who was around Michael at the time. Saul stepped forward and grabbed Rochelle, "hurry it up!" he shouted not wanting to waste a minute. If Michael had indeed become a Kishin than his first target would be May, who was in no shape to move. If he came out hungry and Saul wasn't around to protect May something would definitely go down, Saul had no time to waste. He had to get there soon!

A faint blip appeared on May's own Soul Perception, which was admittedly much weaker than a meister's. May rolled over and sat up, bringing her body up against one of the small bed posts as she leaned against it. "Mi-chael," her mouth was dried and chapped; even forcing that word out seemed to take all of her energy. She tried to bring herself up and onto her feet, but the sand beneath her made getting her balance hard…or was she just too tired to even stand? She collapsed back down onto her bed. She couldn't move…she'd just wait here for a little while longer. If that was Michael than Saul and Rochelle would be here soon. She couldn't wait to see them and Michael again…as well as eat and drink again…this was truly a tough test that the academy had laid out for them, she had to wonder why…why put them through this horror? She hoped they had a very good reason for doing this.

Saul mumbled something. They had set up camp too far away from the cave! They didn't want to interfere with the training, after all, if Michael accidentally picked them up or even May did then they might've gotten confused and Michael could've gotten lost! They had to stop faraway, but it wasn't a picnic for them out here either. It was tiring stuff, trying to remain vigilant. They had had to stay out of Michael's range, but keep him in theirs! In other words they had to stress their own range while keeping a careful eye on Michael's. It wasn't something an amateur could do…you needed to know both your opponent and yourself in order to achieve something even that simple. Saul rushed in, he knew he had to make it there in time. He had to push his legs a little harder. Saul still couldn't make it out, was he a Kishin or was he holding onto his sanity! Saul couldn't stop! He had to get there just in case!

Saul skidded to a halt as May's small camp came into his sights. He tried to tap into his Soul Perception and see where Michael was, however, the stress and the work-out from running out here was making it harder and harder to see. His mind was becoming clouded and he couldn't even think straight. He looked to the tent and decided it was no time to be hesitating even if he couldn't use his Soul Perception he could use his eyes. He fumbled forward and wasted no time in opening the tent up and barging in, ignoring the fact that this was a woman's room and she could be doing private things like all people do, like changing clothes. However, that possibility never even crossed Saul's mind as he barged in, kicking the flap wide open for sheer drama. Saul marched in, his worry showing on his sleeves. He marched in and looked around for his target. He immediately saw Michael's back, but he couldn't quite make it out. He looked human enough, but there were several cases where Kishins looked 'human' from the back and didn't from the front. And Saul couldn't jump to conclusions in a situation like this. Not when the life of two of his students were at stake. Saul crept forward, trying to keep up an even, unsuspecting pace as he approached Michael. He didn't want to draw his attention if need be Saul would rather take Michael's head off with one clean sweep. Rochelle stayed as quiet as she could, she could feel Saul's intensity traveling through his hands and into her as if trying to say, 'I can do this'…while at the same time saying 'I don't want to do this.' Rochelle felt her partner's high anxiety levels and nodded, agreeing with him.

Michael's soul suddenly seemed to turn over as if just moments before he was unconsciously or barely aware of what was going on around him. But it quickly became obvious now he was aware. He was aware of the person holding the weapon, creeping up behind him. Saul's body suddenly felt like it had been electrified. The uncertainty of not knowing was welling up. His hands had become covered in sweat as he stared at his old student. Michael's body seemed like turning around slower than usual…was he trying to catch Saul off guard? Was Michael just tired from being trapped in the cave for so long? Or was Saul just imagining things? Saul's knuckles turn pure white as he tightened his grip on his boomerang. "Michael, are you all right?" Saul asked his words, probably seemed to full of worry and unease, but he couldn't help himself. His hand seemed to be flexing uncontrollably, tightening and then loosening his grip. He couldn't quite control himself. Saul swallowed his own spit, trying to wet his drying throat.

"I'm fine," said Michael finally. His words seemed to cut through the tension and allow Saul to loosen up at last. For the first time since laying eyes on him Saul could tell that Michael was definitely tired, his shoulders were sagging and his breathing was a little ragged. He turned back around, making his back face Saul. "Who I'm really worried about is May." Saul smiled, a profound partnership had truly blossomed between these two. The fact that Michael was back safe and sound was proof of that bond. His first thought upon arriving was him worrying about May. The DWMA was basically founded on the bonds between Meister and Weapon, forget about passing the test of turning into a Kishin…it looked like Michael did one even better. Saul smiled and stood up. May was probably in bad shape, Michael didn't need food, but she did. This was also a test to see if May was willing to go through hell for her partner and she did it. It was always a good thing when two partners got along well together. Still Saul supposed congratulations and the party would have to wait until they took the two back home and let them rest up for the upcoming battle. After all, the date was soon approaching. An ominous dark cloud hung in the air and Saul couldn't help, but shiver at the prospect. Michael would need every advantage he could get in order to stay standing against him.

(-With the fourth brother-)

"Master, I've gather the army that you wanted," said a lowly Evil Human as he kneeled before the impressive brother of famine. He stood up and waved his hand, dismissing him immediately. His attention was needed for the final preparation. The Evil Human didn't seem very interested in moving though, he stayed his ground and looked at him with intrigue. He sighed and welcomed him to speak his mind. The Evil Human spoke up, "why do you need such a large army? I mean, they are only kids. Asking for a thousand Evil Humans and a hundred witches? I understand and respect that you are being extra cautious, but moving such a large army without attracting Lord Death's attention took manpower and money. It wasn't easy to do, so don't you think it is time you let me in on your plan?" The Evil Human was his right hand man for awhile about ever since Marburg had come to alert him to Vigrid's actions. And as result, he may have been a little bit too…er, open. After all, he made it sound like there was no plan to this, that all of his actions were pointless. It was insulting and little bit degrading even if they were in the confides of his room.

"You're right," he said, standing up and motioning for him to follow, "move everyone to the gathering hall, I want to make an announcement. I will explain my reasons for calling everyone here now." The Evil Human bowed several times and immediately sped out of there, he was a bit worried. Underneath Vigrid or Marbrug he would've gotten chewed out, but this one was a lot nicer. He knew the importance of a strong underling and master relationship. He did as he was told and gathered everyone up, moving them all forward and to the hall. He had them stand there and went through the formal introductions, allowing them to mingle, and even offered them something to drink. By the time the announcement was ready he, too, had calmed down in one of the front row seats, looking up and onto the stage to see his master shuffle onto the stage. A sinewy man stepped out, having discarded his cloak his entire body was on display and it was almost literally his entire body. It was as if somebody had stripped him completely of skin and bones leaving the red flesh of muscles beneath it, the only bones that were obvious on his body were his teeth each sharpened to a point ready to devour his target. The Evil Humans and witches in the audience were silent as they watched him come up to the stand and tap on the microphone about to give his speech and explain his plan.

"My brother Vigrid was on the right track utilizing an army," he said into the microphone, causing some of the Evil Humans' heads to perk up…they were a part of the failed army and were more than happy with a second chance. "I plan to use one as well…except I'll be using mine better. Vigrid had a fine grasp on powerful warfare, but he lacked a little bit of grace when it came to it. After all in chess you only need to capture the king." Those words explained his entire plan in an instant. "I'll be here waiting, I do intend to finish off those brats once and for all. They have shamed my family, but Marburg my brother will go straight away and take down Lord Death. He's busy with his own preparations elsewhere and couldn't be here tonight...that is my plan. I know Lord Death he'll send a large majority of his army to me, Vigrid is already out of the way, so as long as he avoids both me and Marburg he has a fighting chance and generally a good one. As a matter of fact, should they fight on equal grounds I assume Marburg has a 30% chance of winning usually. But like I said he's doing some special preparation.

"Anyways, that brings me to you and what I need you for," his words seemed to carry a sort of weight to them, it made them hypnotic to a point. None of the Evil Humans had budged an inch. "I need a banquet set up." Their faces dropped.

"You want us to cook for you!?" they shouted. Marburg was taking on the truly dangerous job, he was the one who needed help! And then this guy gets off on ordering them all here along with the witches just to cook for him! What was he insane?! They got up, twisting out of there seats and began to head for the door. They paused as they noticed each door had slammed shut, sealing them in.

"I think you misunderstood what I asked you all here for," he said lowering his voice to a grave tone, "you are not chefs. I would not trust you to handle making me chicken and noodle soup. Oh, no, you guys are the food."

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><p>I'm always worried I'm losing backlog for this...and then I realize I got like eight chapters of backlog which is a decent chunk...anyways, new post.<p> 


	85. Chapter 84 Center of Attention

**Center of Attention**

He was right. The gang didn't need no invitation or magnifying glass to find him. Such an act would've caught their attention immediately, attracting crowds and crowds of meisters and even government officials. The world would soon be caught up in this travesty. The fact that such devastation had occurred in just a moment's notice was amazing, governments from all around the world were quickly passing the blame onto each other, desperate to find the culprit who had caused such destruction and quickly seal him away behind bars. They never would've thought that such damage could've been caused by one man. Surely this was an even that would've surpassed even their wildest imagination for a god's power.

An entire island was suddenly wiped clean. All people, animals, plants, and even rocks had been removed in a matter of seconds. The entire island was reduced to a barren wasteland flattened down to the smooth slick surface of a marble plate…it was impossible for any man to believe that such power even existed in this world. The power to make an atomic bomb seem like a child poking you. No one had heard or seen the moment of destruction, they couldn't say if it was a bomb, fire, or anything else. The only thing they could say was…that they didn't believe it. No one on the island had survived either so there were no tales being passed down or even the slightest amount of light shining on this incident. The entire world was left in the dark, except for the DWMA.

"It is a little far from here," explained Lord Death, knowing full well that such a location was chosen to make sure he kept his nose out of it. Once more it looked like Lord Death could do nothing to stop his brothers from raining down chaos on the innocent people living in this world. Lord Death would just have to recline himself to growing even older in this infernal room. He tried to put on a happy face, but it was obvious he was annoyed. The entire school was a buzz as people prepared to launch. They were going there in force. Lord Death didn't know how many Evil Humans his brother had enlisted. But without a doubt it would take all of his power to even dent his brother. He needed an army to take just him down so he wasn't about to waste any time against him. There was hesitation amongst the students many of them knew of Lord Death's brother's power. Vigrid had just attacked them it seemed and their home town still hadn't recovered from that. They were in trouble and it seemed they were just sinking deeper and deeper into it. And now this? A man capable of eliminating an entire island in a blink of an eye? Was that even possible? They had the right to be nervous about trying to start trouble with him. It seemed crazy to even think about it.

They quickly prepared the planes. Luckily for them they had plenty of time to prepare them and get them from some certain connections. However, they had to get their fast. They knew several people are charging onto that island and charging straight to their death. They had to inspect whatever had caused that horrible sight, they didn't have any time left to wait. They had to go there immediately and check out what had caused the destruction. There were many people who were crazy and they wanted to see whatever it was that caused it…and possibly even try to control it for themselves…after all that was what many governments wanted…a weapon that could eliminate an entire island in the blink of an eye. That was the main worry. All of these innocent people charging to their death and knowingly they would get in their way. They wanted that power for themselves so they wouldn't let a bunch of kids take it. And even worse the DWMA had strict rules against harming them so if they did get in the way they couldn't just react and fight back, they would have to let the government continue to make fools out of themselves. It seemed like a dangerous idea, but they would just have to let them do it, no matter how much it would hurt their plan. They would move out in force later today.

It is funny what some people did the night before their 'certain' death. They were a lot of phone calls bouncing back between them and their friends and families, people were constantly pacing around, practicing, stupid things were done as well. It was so varied that a lot of people didn't know what to do and just stayed in their rooms all of the time. Even the gang seemed to be on edge from the insane power he had just demonstrated. The power to eliminate an entire island…it seemed insane even for Lord Death or Vigrid. Even Marburg, who speciailized in powerful diseases made to wipe out large numbers of people didn't seem this power.

However, in all honesty they all had their strengths and weaknesses a give and take between the four of them. Vigrid specialized in one-on-one confrontations and easily outweighed the rest of them in that aspect as a result he needed an army to help him overcome the odds difference. Marburg was a specialist in fighting against the odds and could've easily destroyed a nation, but when it came to one-on-one fights his diseases tended to take their time and he couldn't overcome that gap easily. Lord Death and the fourth brother were the ones that were the most versatile. While they may lose out in their brothers' specialized fields they could were split about 60/40 in between the two differences with Lord Death leaning to favor more direct one-on-one confrontation alongside the help with his weapons and the fourth one preferring to fight against the odds and being very capable of doing so. Of course, Lord Death knew all of this and passed it onto his allies, hoping to increase their odds ever so slightly.

They had no time to waste it was already going to be a few days just to fly out there, who knows how he'd react if he thought that they were just going to try to ignore him. Worst case scenario he may move to Japan or Africa and try to decimate the entire population there. The small plane began its trip throughout the air and Lord Death immediately moved over to the phone, he called up as many Death Scythes as he possibly could. Many of them couldn't make it, they all had their posts to take care of including Enma whose ego was still bruised from losing to Vigrid, but he had his own problems where he was. He promised to head out as soon as possible, but from the sound of it…it may be another month until it was. Lord Death sighed, hoping that his students along with Rochelle could handle it. He had no idea that the person he ought to be worrying about was himself.

Marburg was sitting nearby the school, his head slumped into the palm of his hand…an obvious bored look on his face. He didn't particularly want to be here, he wanted to take Lord Death out on his own terms and he wasn't quite ready yet. He was at maybe 80% of his full power so he had to wait a little while longer until he could, but still he supposed in the end as long as Lord Death went down he'd be happy with that. First things first though, he had to make sure he didn't get found out. He was outside of Lord Death's Soul Perception Range and he was fairly certain that nobody in the school could outdo their principal's range just yet, not even the wielder of the Death Scythe. Marburg lifted his arm up and decided to reveal his latest full-power. A thin white smoke oozed off of his body. Time was of the essence and he had never been to the DWMA, he had no idea what was in it or what the layout was like.

Once more he smiled as he looked back. Perhaps this was how things were meant to go down, he felt sorry for Lord Death…he had fallen so far since the days of old. Perhaps looking after these kids had caused him to go soft. If he was like he was back in the old days he never would've fallen for such an obvious ploy. Vigrid's own failed attempt at war had turned to their advantage, several of the Kishins had crafted a map to hand over to Marburg and now that he had one he could easily find his was to Lord Death's chamber, but this white smoke was going to help him find his way throughout it all…as well as make sure no stupid human beings in the DWMA would spot him and raise the alarm. He would practically be invisible amongst this fog-like screen. "Lord Death, back in the day people used to consider you the bringer of death…a man whose power far exceeded mine... however, that has changed." Marburg jumped off of the rock and landed on the ground carefully. "Well, I guess I'm off to kill Death."

(-on the plane-)

There were four planes that Lord Death had managed to get his hands on and prepare for the mission, it seemed rather pathetic considering they were going against a monster with near god-like powers, but in the end, it beat walking. Each plane seated about 200 students so 1200 people were on the flight, but not all of them were students. Interestingly enough not all of them were even meisters or weapons. Apparently some government officials or other similar over-powered maniacs with big wallets had managed to place their men on the ship. Lord Death tried to explain what had caused the damage to the island, but just like most humans they ignored his reasonable pleas and forced their way on, figuring they could use his kids to handle any real trouble while they looked out for the weapon that caused the destruction. Originally most of them were met with stern glances from the kids who actually knew what they were doing and who they were going up against, but there were a few groups who seemed genuinely concerned with taking down the monster and were here to offer help.

One of the men, a well-built man probably in his thirties was sitting off to the back. He wore a suit and tie and a pair of black sunglasses. He looked like one of those secret agents in a bad TV show…but he definitely didn't seem to be nervous despite flying into what could possibly be the worst battle of his life…as a matter of fact, you could say he looked bored. He moved to the side, slightly making room for his partner, a similarly dressed man who sat down next to him. The movement caused their shirts to rise up a little bit too much and reveal a small pistol that rested on their sides. It looked a little fundamentally different than most guns, but nobody could quite put their finger on it. Another man was a huge giant of one, sitting down in one of the front seats, and practically taking up two. He was rather big and his face was hidden due to an impressive large mask that looked like it was from a horror movie. It was actually a little discerning as it looked like he could've been a Kishin, but Lord Death and Saul both assured the group that he wasn't. The other planes had similar passengers all of them seeming to have their own hidden agenda and who didn't seem to get along too well with each other or Lord Death, but nonetheless they were along for the ride.

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><p>Tried to add in some other possible villainsallies for future arcs during this little bit. Don't worry all of the characters play a semi-important part. In all honesty this chapter was probably written so long ago...anyways! I still got studying to do for one more final tomorrow, so that's all for now!


	86. Chapter 85 Arriving

**Arriving**

The plane shuddered, slowing down in midair as if it was caught in a giant invisible net…no, more like it was moving through gelatin it seemed as if it had encountered some resistance so it slowly started to move in deeper and a little faster too. It was slow going at first, the plane was resisting the very air it had been flying through just moment ago. It had been slicing through the sky like butter seconds ago and now…now it was frozen in midair. Michael lifted an eyebrow as he noticed one of the strange non-DWMA men stand up and slowly move forward to the ship's door and grab a parachute, strapping it on. It was the huge half-giant wearing the horror movie-styled mask. It seemed like he was ready to disembark from here. He paused for a second and looked back at the students, "I'd get moving if I was you…this plane's about to go down." Aside from a slight accent there seemed to be nothing else to his voice, no sense of dread or worry…or concern. More like it was an order from someone else to tell them that the plane was going to start a quick descent. The entire group looked at him like he was a freak, it was obvious that he didn't care much for them plus how could he sense that the plane was going down? They had just encountered a bit of turbulence that was all. The man opened the door, leapt out of it and quickly shut it behind him all in one move as if the roaring winds didn't even bother him. Every student was content to just sit there and wait it out until the two guys in black suit in the back of the plane got up and did the same thing. Of course, not a single DWMA instructor warned them so they remained quiet.

"I think it would be best if we jumped, too," started Ash as he stood up a little bit. Xander was about to chuckle at his thought, but from the way Melody and Michael were looking it was apparent that the thought had crossed all of the Meister's minds. They obviously didn't feel too safe. "It is decided then?" asked Ash, the rest of the group nodded one for all and all for one. They all got up and immediately flooded to the doors, putting their parachutes on. Saul nodded as they walked by. They suddenly understood that they were waiting, the situation hadn't gotten bad yet, but jumping was clearly going to be necessary. Saul just wanted to see how many students had the good sense to jump now and how many would just sit back and wait, hoping that the other guys had been wrong. It was just another test, they may take anybody who doesn't jump back to the DWMA to wait. Nonetheless they had passed…they hoped that enough of the other students did too. They looked around and immediately noticed that a lot of the other planes had their own evacuees. Probably all non-DWMA students, too.

They jumped. The air hit their face like a ton of bricks, the force of the air whipped the words away from their mouths and ears, they couldn't hear each other as they began their fast…yet somehow slow plummet towards earth. They knew if they pulled their chutes too quickly then they would be sitting ducks for any airborne attacks so they waited until they got down farther. Michael pulled his strap first, his additional weight and also his minor army training from his dad had told him now would be a good time. His descent was soon slowed and right after him Melody, May, and Ash's chutes went off. Xander soon followed, Shi wait a much longer time…probably because ze didn't really think about pulling the string and instead wanted to feel the wind. Shi eventually pulled mer string, but it wasn't for awhile.

The two men in the black suits floated further beneath them, drifting around for a bit and offering an occasional upwards glance at them. One of them smirked and turned to his partner, "looks like not all of the DWMA students are worthless, huh?" The other one nodded and cast another glance upwards as if worried about them, "don't worry, mate. They won't stand in our way of obtaining the weapon or taking down the bad guy if he really does exist…even if they do we'll just eliminate them as well." Of course, the group was still some ways above them and couldn't hear what they were saying, but that didn't stop them from getting a shiver up their spine…something was definitely worrisome.

(-Back on the plane-)

Saul reclined his chair a little bit further. He wasn't sure if people were actually sensing the danger or if they were just blindly following the herd. He hoped it was the second, if it was then they'd actually stand a chance of surviving this place. Saul could already feel the encroaching sense of danger. Even if you ignored Death's brother, the other guys were every bit as deadly. Saul reclined a bit further and grabbed his alcohol, he peered over his seat and looked at the guys beneath him, it was a bunch of those government fellows the people who insisted on coming here for the 'weapon' ignoring their heed…a few of their students were left behind, too. Saul stood up and went into the cockpit. "Okay, fellows," he said, "turn it around…just a bunch of second-rates left." The pilot nodded and immediately swung the ship around. Saul moved to the side and quickly jumped out himself followed by Rochelle. Saul quickly took note of the rest of the planes turning around, he wondered how many fellow Death Scythes were with them. Oh, well, he suppose things like this usually were for the better. Besides that he was more interested in how many other 'organizations' showed up.

He quickly ran through the list Lord Death gave him in his head. The two men in the suits were members of an exclusive club, the Collection of Information Analysis. It was their job to know things. They collected and organized all the data in the world. They were big brother anything online, anything in sight of a security camera, anything in the entire world could be seen from their headquarters. A collection of knowledge that far outweighed everything else that Saul knew about. Perhaps that was why they were looking into this matter. It was something they didn't know and it was their job to correct such a heinous error.

The other man, the large giant with the horror movie mask was from an organization called Pluto. There was very little known about them, but that because there was very little to know. They were a group of four individuals and their lackeys, all of them known for being powerful…possibly powerful enough to be on par with Lord Death in certain situations. As far as Saul had been informed, they had nothing against the DWMA and were mostly just a group of people with nothing better to do. They had gotten together for the sole purpose of finding a goal and ten achieving said goal. Saul wasn't quite sure if that made them scarier or not…they did whatever they wanted to basically. Of course, despite this they were highly trustworthy as despite their immense power they never caused trouble with the DWMA or any other government. They were just a bunch of bored old cronies as far as Saul was concerned.

Speaking of them the old crony landed first. His incredible bulk almost caused an earthquake when he had landed. Out of the blue a large steel golem leapt out at him. The man turned around and looked at it, nothing but boredom in his eyes. He stretched his arm out and grabbed hold of the large golem's head, spinning around and tossing him sideways and into the air. The golem whipped around and landed on his feet, saving him from taking too much damage…at least from that attack. The giant horror movie man dashed inwards taking multiple steps at a time until he was right next to the golem, his arm stretched out smashing into the solid metal shell of the golem and continuing in on through. The golem's body creaked, but it was obvious he was still alive. It hefted its large arms up and into the air, threatening to bring them back down at full-force. The man unclenched his hand and out of nowhere a loud boom was heard as the golem exploded from the inside out. It was obvious that the force of such an explosion originated from his hand, but it didn't mean anything if you knew where the attack came from you would have to avoid it and seeing as this man's physical prowess was incredibly above and beyond normal limitations even that would prove to be difficult. The group called Pluto was not to be trifled with. The member smirked and sneered as he walked through the mess ahead of him. The smell of burnt trees was omnipresent all around him. He shook his head and moved forward, trudging in deeper with every step.

He could feel the tension in the air. It was like electricity was buzzing straight through it, even a war-hardened criminal like himself could feel the slightest bit of uneasiness to it. He was a criminal, he had been given a second chance at life because of the boss of Pluto decided that his 'unique' skills would come in handy. He didn't mind…as a matter of fact the only reason he was a criminal in the first place was because of the lack of excitement and so far Pluto had fixed that. This odd uneasiness was rushing all over him. When was the last time he felt like a true challenger? Like the odds were actually stacked against him? It must've been decades, but here is how he felt right here and now. He could see the shadow of a demon before him, the barest of Soul Wavelengths crept through and into him. It felt like he could be killed in a second…and he liked it!

(-in the inner sanctum-)

The man of the hour was stretched out in the middle of a large bed. He smiled and looked to the side, nothing of real interest was around him…he was just stuck waiting until his enemy's got here. Lucky for him he prepared some snacks ahead of time. He reached over to the side of his bed, his greedy fingers grabbing a hold of one of the shining red orbs, a Kishin Egg from one of those men he had killed days earlier. He went to pop it into his mouth like a piece of candy, but he paused as he looked over at the stash. His senses were alerting him to someone else that was present. He brought his hand back and looked around him. "Excuse me, but whoever you are you better present yourself…NOW!"

"Chk, chk, chk," muttered a man as he came around from the corner. He wore overly large goggles over his eyes and he looked over at the big man of the mansion. "I'm impressed, I thought I was hiding myself very well." He was met with a mocking laugh, which made him recoil a bit…he didn't want to be found just yet. He was a witch and seeing his brothers and sisters laid out before him didn't really inspire much faith in his (hopefully) soon-to-be friend. Of course, he was shook out of his own little daze as a loud throat clearing forced him to pay attention to what was going on. He lifted his head and tried to smile, but it didn't seem to impressing anyone. "I'm here to…uh…check on things. A few last minute tweaks to a project, if you will." Limos lifted an eyebrow, he didn't trust his new intruder either and his purposefully vague comment should get him killed. "Trust me, I won't get in your way." Of course, Limos had said similar heartwarming comments to his guests awhile back and you could see where it got them. He lifted his hand and prepared a blast, a much, much weaker version than Vigrid's, but it would easily serve the purpose here.

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><p>Ta-DA another new chapter! PRAISE ME! Oh, well, got it down and I've written a few other chapters for this so I got something resembling a backlog...oh, well...<p> 


	87. Chapter 86 Superiority

**Superiority**

The blast had ripped through the air, cutting down all before it, but for some reason the intruder wasn't vaporized. He wasn't even burned. He stood up, and patted off his clothes. "What kind of magic do you use?" asked Limos as he descended the small flight of stairs down to his intruder, looking him eye-to-eye. "Whatever it is you shouldn't count on avoiding a second a blast." He lifted his arm and drew the power to the point of his finger and pressed it against the man's skull, causing him to looked worried, but at the same time a strange serenity came over him.

"I'm a researcher, scientist, and that's what I used…I used science to, ahem…deflect your blast," he smiled as he looked up at him. "It was a rather risky move as I didn't know the density, type, or overall make-up of the blast. So, I had to program a completely universal of shield and build it up from there. I figured it would require a lot of power, so I started from there." Limos didn't look happy at that response, he quickly jabbed at his forehead and threw the man back a few feet with a new bleeding wound in the center of his forehead. The man chuckled, apparently he had even suspected this would be how it would go down. He wiped the blood away and shook it off, Limos had held back so he didn't get killed by such a simple move. "I'm sorry, but I am a scientist. Artificial Witch is what my goal is." Limos cocked a smile and moved forward.

"Artificial Witch?" asked Limos as he walked up to him. An evil smirk cast over his face, "I knew some of the best minds were on the project back a couple centuries, but they failed. So, I know you couldn't manage it." He said as moved back and took a few steps away, he didn't mind turning his back on him even though a regular witch could do a lot of damage to someone who was not suspecting it. But this man seemed to hold himself to a higher standard. He just stood there and smiled, he knew what Limos was thinking. Artificial Witch meant Artificial Magic, something that anyone would be hard pressed to create. However, he believed his abilities spoke for themselves.

"I know, I was one of those men, the name's Cham," he said lifting a small hat into the air. "I know Marburg, I was his second-in-command. He mentioned what you were doing here and one of my 'experiments' that seemed to be producing promising results. He said he'd be here." Limos nodded, immediately remembering the monstrous arrow believing it to be the work of some kind of higher power. No way a measly human could generate an attack with such a potent aura. He could feel the shivers run down his spine as he remembered it. Such power came from a human seemed like an impossibility, it drew him to wonder what kind of power he would produce or another witch.

"You're a human, aren't you?" asked Limos immediately sensing something off about the man. He couldn't sense his soul well before because a human soul was easy enough to overlook, its why him, Marburg, and Vigrid preferred the kind of nuclear option. Destroy everything, it was the best insurance policy. "Why aren't you using this wondrous new power?" The man smiled and put his hat back on his head, happy to have caught a big fish. If he could make these three interested in his abilities, he could possibly have a much more reliable army on his hands. These three would basically turn him into the strongest and most potent 'ally' in the world.

"There's a slight problem with it," he explained, "it doesn't seem to react all too well. It kind of corrodes the user, perfection takes time and sacrifice…and of course like all great minds I'm not willing to sacrifice anything, so I'm having other people do it for me." Limos chuckled, figured…a typical human response. He shook his head, but didn't reply and let the man continue. "Don't worry, I won't do anything you don't want me to, I'm just here to observe." Limos paused for a second and looked thoughtful, he put a few more things together before finally speaking up.

"Actually there is one small thing you can do," he said as he sat down, his voice practically dripping of confidence. "You see this banquet I got set out for people who fought my brothers will go to waste if someone else gets here first. And I don't want that to happen, so basically your job is to defeat anyone else. I'd rather not be bothered by those other people. They are too…bothersome for me to take care of. Me and my brothers have near god-like powers, I'd rather not go using them on people undeserving." Cham smiled, slinking away into the shadows once more nearly disappearing due to his lack of a bright soul. In all honesty he preferred it this way himself. Originally he just thought that he would be able to observe his project in action, but now…now he can test out some new things as well. He smiled and moved on. Now time to pick his first target.

Unsurprisingly Limos was thinking the same thing. He sat back, his head kicked back against the wall. Would it even be worth it? For him to get up and out of his chair? He sighed, maybe he could just strike some of them down from here. Then again why waste a good thing? He has Cham scouting out for people to potentially strike down, so why should he extend himself, too? A good king always lets his pawns take the offensive while he relaxes. However, that plan seemed destined to fall through. Almost instantly the two men in the black suits burst into the room. They entered in from the opposite ends of the room, both of them avoiding the tunnel Cham came into. Limos let out a loud moan, honestly these guys weren't even Weapons or Meisters…their souls were so puny. They both sporting impressive guns, but of different designs, but Limos didn't fear guns. He completely overwhelmed them, he was much stronger than them. Besides at least now he didn't have to get up and out of his seat.

Cham moved out into the field, slowly beginning to examine his opponents. Just some weak human beings from the looks of it. He never understood why Lord Death relied on the human and meister combos to repel Kishins…it seemed like it would be impossible for the young teenagers to defeat the more superior Kishins and Witches. Cham smiled, grinning broadly and opening his hands up. He still hadn't managed to get a good grip on it, but after examining Limos shot, he was fairly certain he could replicate it. An evil smile crossed his face, and like all god scientist he needed a guinea pig to test his newfound powers out on. Any one of those meisters would do…if they did he did, if they didn't…well, he'd just keep shooting until he got it right. He took aim and let a very precise beam out. He couldn't create a big deadly blast like Limos or Vigrid, but he could produce a fine laser using his power. "**Kishin Laser."**

"Really?" said a man jumping into the middle of the fight with his one arm outstretched after deflecting the laser. He was one of the DWMA's allies during this fight, but he wasn't actually one of them. He wasn't involved with the other two previously mentioned organizations that came here either. As a matter of fact, he probably wouldn't have showed up if it was just Lord Death asking for help or even if it was just a bomb that went off. No, he came for a very specific reason. And that is to kill Limos. He stepped forward and pulled his now seared white glove off of his hand and replaced it with a new one. "I really hope that wasn't you cause if it was, then I had no reason to come here…I'm already much stronger than you are." Cham crouched further down and quickly pivoted around, disappearing into the burned small cliffs of the island. He didn't want to get involved with him, it made no sense for him to. He was just here to try and prevent some people from getting in to where Limos was. He wasn't about to put his life on the line to do so though. He quickly skittered away and into the darkness.

The man moaned and shook his head, small fries clinging onto a god was his number one pet peeve. He spared little thought as he glanced back and at the kids he saved. "Get going, brats…there's about to be a blood bath ahead of you." He tightened his grip, making sure his gloves were on tightly enough. Destroying his opponent, that was his sole goal and he wouldn't stop until he accomplished it. Not now…not ever! Truth be told, while Lord Death was fine with the others tagging along he felt a little worried about this one. He wasn't quite sure if he could handle himself, but it was already beginning to look like it was just his worries. This man was quite capable of protecting himself. "I will defeat you."

(-With Michael and the rest-)

Michael spent little time, quickly nocking an arrow and letting it fly. The arrow burst through the air, slicing into the skin of one of the golems, breaking the golems shoulder and easily destroying its inner gears. The golem reared back, its shoulder completely destroyed and it couldn't work at all, however, that was the least of its worries. Ash leapt up, pushing both of his feet against the golem's chest, from there he quickly whipped around in a complete circle bringing his bladed gauntlet smashing straight the golem's forehead. The metal broke completely causing the golem's systems to shut down. Melody lashed out, wrapping her yo-yo around the golem's head and quickly whipped it around again bringing it into another golem's body and breaking straight through it as well. The trio was doing well to get this far.

"I wonder what's up with all of the golems," moaned Helena as she came up and joined them. The rest of the group sighed and rolled their eyes. She had been barely managing to pull her own weight, but they had to admit even if she was only barely pulling her own weight, she certainly did help lighten the load. The entire group was beginning to breathe heavily, the fact was simple…taking down golems was hard work. They shrugged it off and sat down, they needed a few more moments to rest and recover before charging off again. The golems weren't too bright or strong…but they certainly were a lot of them. "I mean I would've thought that as a Kishin or a witch, he would use…you know, Kishins and Witches. Why use these guys?"

"I don't know, maybe all of the Kishins and Witches are celebrating someone's birthday," offered Shi, this caused everyone to shake their heads, but seeing as how they had no real idea why all of the Kishins and Witches were gone and in all reality it didn't matter where they were…just as long as they weren't here. However, with that being said…they couldn't help but feel a sick feeling wash over them. It was almost as if they were walking into a trap.

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><p>Another chapter down!<p> 


	88. Chapter 87 The Invention

**The Invention**

Marburg smiled, slinking through the town. It reminded him of the first time he had laid his eyes on the vile humans. His body shook with rage as he moved through the town, slinking into the alleyways and heading through them, zigzagging through the mess until he got to his goal. The DWMA was in front of him and within that was his target. With his powers slowly returning he could feel the need to take over the world, destroy the vile humans and restore the food chain to the proper level…however, there were a few problems in that. Lord Death and his pets were standing in the way. Of course, the pets were nothing compared to their master, so getting rid of him was the most important step. Marburg rarely won in a fair exchange against Lord Death and he doubted now that Lord Death had his Death Scythes he would stand a much better chance…no, but someone still did. Vigrid! Vigrid was imprisoned in the school in a Prison Box, much like Marburg was. Ordinarily escape would be impossible, if it wasn't for Marburg's many, many years within it. Centuries were spent with him examining the inner workings of the box and he had many friends working on it on the outside too. Destroying it and cracking it open would be child's play. Marburg smirked, soon with all three brothers at full-power victory…no, world domination would be child's play as well!

Lord Death wouldn't stand in their way for too much longer. Soon Marburg would deliver what the humans deserved to them! His smirk turned into an evil smile as he twisted in deeper to the heart of the city. Humans…the weaker of the three and yet they felt as if they were the most deserving. They felt like the whole world was theirs for the taking, they expanded rapidly taking over the corners of the world, aiming to be the greatest civilizations they constantly fired upon each other. They didn't even know how to get along with their own kind and yet Lord Death felt as if MARBURG wasn't the one trying to be friends with THEM!? They weren't deserving of such forgiveness. Marburg thought back to when he first met Cham, a human he could actually stand. A man after a similar goal as the others, power…but how he found it was by crossing the thin line that separated humans from Kishins. A line Marburg had been examining for ages.

(-many, many, MANY years ago-)

Cham was an old man back then. He had been examining the manners to cross the line for several years…many other scientists have tried to do it for themselves, but he was the first one who threw himself into his work. Examining every corner of every possibility, never wasting a second to examine the body of his work. It was there, the answer. He knew it was! True, he couldn't rely on blind luck, but he knew any minute inspiration would strike him and he could do it! The science supported his facts. A transformation from human to monster was possible, transferring a person's soul into a golem, all of those facts were there and possible! Years had already been poured into completing these experiments and he still felt so far from a break through.

Cham collapsed at the table's feet, how many days had he been working on this again? No sleep, no rest, no nothing? He was so close to passing out, with every minute he could feel himself growing closer to touching the light. Immortality…was that Cham's goal? He wondered this for a few seconds as he looked up. He would love to become immortal, a being for the entire time span. He laid on the floor of his laboratory, he spent tedious hours keeping it clean. He was a man who needed more time. A man who wanted to accomplish it all. Obtain power, longevity, everything! And yet without longevity it was impossible for him to obtain the rest. He couldn't make it long enough to see his research bear fruits…

"I can give it to you," laughed Marburg as he appeared from behind the window, carelessly tossing the curtain to the side. Cham looked up at Marburg, rubbing his dazed eyes as he watched the smoke billow out of his body. Marburg was much younger since this was prior to his imprisonment at the hands at Lord Death. However, he wore the same evil look on his face and he spoke with a similar commanding tone. Cham shivered, a sudden draft filling up the room. Marburg shook his head as he opened his hand, letting loose a small ball of light blue fog. "Our goals are similar. To turn human beings into a more…tolerable form. Can you agree with me on that part?" Cham shivered again. It felt as if the devil had walked into the room right now and was making him an offer. Admittedly had Cham been in the proper state of mind, he would've said 'no' in that instant, his gut instinct was telling him to do so. However, Cham was past that point of clear-headedness and clarity. He was overworked, desperate, he wouldn't make it to see his greatest inventions finished. He agreed.

Marburg smiled. It was hard finding willing guinea pigs. He was happy that he had at least one. He could finally see how his 'cure' would act. He smiled as he left the light blue fog fill the room, he held a handkerchief up to his mouth to cover himself from the possible poisonous gas. He knew he would be able to survive it, but just in case it came with some unsightly side-effects, he had decided to play it safe. The worst-case scenario was that Cham died, of course, Marburg had considered it, but he was fine with just ignoring the consequences. It wouldn't affect him if this guy died. The fog lingered in the air for a few more seconds before it dissipated. When it was gone Marburg looked down upon Cham.

Cham was on the floor, balled up into the fetal position. The pain was more then he could bear. He was clutching his stomach and tears were beginning to roll down his face from the pain. Marburg frowned, here he was getting his hopes up. The man was exceptionally smart. He didn't have the centuries that Marburg had or the supernatural powers, but he had still managed to get close to his exact 'cure' anyways. About 50%...50% in about a third of the time with a third of the intelligence. It was an amazing accomplishment, Marburg had to admit that. Oh, well, he shrugged and moved on. Just cause the guy did a good job didn't mean much else. He wasn't worth the effort to save. Suddenly Marburg felt the man's arms wrap around his legs. Marburg smirked…he was about to beg for his life…the human life was such a pathetic thing. It wasn't even that long, but they still begged and pleaded for every minute of it.

"Try again!" moaned Cham as another wave of pain washed over him. Marburg stopped leaving. He could kill this man and be on his way, but his words…they resonated with him. "My life's research! Its right in front of me, right? I can solve it! I know I can! Please! Just give me one more shot of that! The first one just might've been bad!" Marburg rolled his eyes, just like a human being, endlessly chasing immortality and power. What a fool. "Please, I'm so close to finishing my research!" Marburg stopped in his tracks. Research? The man might be dying and his final thoughts turn back to his research? Of course, any man who even considered himself as half of a scientist would be blown away by such determination. Marburg smiled and stepped back. Indeed…he smirked, quickly growing fond of such a man and such determination. Surely with a man as determined as this he could break a few laws of witch and human interaction. He nodded, grabbing hold of his new ally.

"Why do I need to try again when the ability to grant you immortality is so simple," Marburg reached into his pocket and produced a small blue orb, handing it over to Cham. "Here it is. Partake of this and you will have taken your first step down the road to immortality and true power." It was a human soul. Cham stared at it for a few more seconds, unsure of what it was, but he couldn't help, but be amazed at it. His hands crept forward, wrapping them around the orb and holding it tightly. He could feel it. The power just seeping out of its pores. He was taken back by it, he wanted it. Not only it, but more! The power didn't seem like enough, just days ago such power would've blown him away, but now that it was in his hands…it didn't seem like enough. Marburg smiled, the desire for a tremendous amount of power was something that was the same between humans and Kishins. Marburg knew the craving feeling for more power, he too had experienced several times in his life. And for some, reason he was feeling it right now. He felt as if he knew that just by pairing up with this man truly infinite power would be at his finger tips. An incredibly strong desire rushed over him. Yes, he wanted it now more than ever! Marburg clasped his hands together, chuckling to himself. It was natural in any partnership for one partner to benefit more than the other…and that was his goal to benefit the most out of them. And indeed he would.

(-modern times-)

Marburg moved a little more stealthier through the city now. The feeling of desiring more power, it was back! Marburg had been trapped for such a long time he had nearly forgotten this feeling. Seeing Michael unleash that arrow had brought that feeling back and now he wracked with it constantly. More power, that was the solution to the world's problems! Holding hands and singing together meant nothing. In the end the man with the biggest firepower wins the fight. That was all there was to it. Almost any Human being would agree with him, just look at how governments are run nowadays. The man smirked to himself heading in deeper to the heart of his enemy's city. He was starting to feel more and more energized, surely soon he would find his brother again. It was odd after all this time out of his prison, he hadn't seen Lord Death yet. He hoped nothing bad had happened to him, after all that pleasure was reserved specifically for him.

Of course, he hadn't come here to strike Lord Death down, no…he supposed his reason for coming was a little bit smarter than that. He had locked onto his goal of releasing Vigrid from his similar bonds. Once Vigrid was out, the three brothers would be unstoppable once more with nothing Lord Death could do about it. They trio would be unstoppable if they were ever together. It was a shame that Lord Death wouldn't be joining them in their rampage, but Marburg guessed you couldn't have everything, could you?

"Too bad for you though you are getting nothing," said a voice behind him, causing Marburg to spin around on his heels and meet with the voice face-to-face. Oh, what did you know it belonged to his dear brother, Lord Death. Marburg smirked, happy to finally see him face-to-face after all these years.

"You look different," mocked Marburg, "new mask?"

"Oh, cut the pleasantries!" shouted Lord Death with a commanding aura. Marburg didn't look at all taken back by his brother's menacing aura. If anything he looked happy at the prospect. Marburg chuckled and nodded, he didn't come here for tea and crumpets anyways. The purple gas began to leak off of Marburg's body as he prepared for combat. True, one-on-one was more Lord Death's area of expertise than his, but Marburg wasn't about to let Marburg get the upper hand in this battle…without his weapon this was anybody's game.

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><p>DUH! DUH! DUH!<p> 


	89. Chapter 88 Power of Pluto

**Power of Pluto**

"Good evening sirs and madams," said a skinny, lanky little golem as he stood in front of the gang. They all paused at the sight…he didn't seem particularly dangerous, but they definitely had a weird feeling about it. There seemed to be some kind of aura around him. Almost as if he was probably the most dangerous being they have encountered so far. However, they had to admit it his actions seemed to be a staunch contrast to their feelings. He had a nice paint coating to his plating, which made him look like he was wearing a tux, not only that he talked with a sophisticated tongue…they supposed if there was anything that was good, he didn't try to kill them in the first five seconds. But that didn't automatically make them friends, they didn't rush forward, they just stood back though…it was possible that he was on one of the different plans. "I understand your trepidation, but I would like to take his moment to offer you a direct ticket to my master' lair."

"So, you do work for that Kishin son o' a gun that just annihilated this island," mocked Shi, but his opponent shrugged it off. He wasn't going to lose his head just because a little kid made fun of him…it was questionable if he could even lose his head to start with. He just stood there a placate smile on his face as he continued to try and negotiate with them. They had a healthy amount of skepticism…after all why wouldn't they? This wasn't exactly your friendliest of neighborhoods. They kept an eye on their opponent and tried not to make any sudden moments, but in secret they were all making the same movement to prepare their attack. Michael's hands slowly crept over to his bow. An arrow already notched, he just needed to pull the bowstring and he would be able to break the golem's head.

"I see, I apologize…but I do see now that I'm going to have to be a bit rough with you, eh?" stated the man as he reached behind his back and brandished his own blade. A skinny fencer's sword was soon brought to the fore-front as he pointed it over at his opponent. "I was ordered by my master to bring you all in to meet him, he never specified if I couldn't do it with you all in body bags. " He leapt forward with surprising speed and power, instantly bearing his sword and sweeping through the air with it. Ash reacted first, immediately breaking in between him and his friends and intercepting the blade with his own. The two stood in a stalemate for a few more seconds, trying to push the other one back, but they were soon faced with the problem of how hard that was. Both of them were perfectly capable with their own weapon and taking things in their own pace, the slightest of opening that they could make weren't enough to secure victory. That is until the golem revealed his ace-up-the-sleeve.

Two more arms sprouted from his chest, each one immediately grasped another blade at his side. The golem suddenly swept them both upwards in a diagonal direction, slicing into Ash' chest with an X-like design and finally forcing the stalemate to a bitter close. Ash stumbled back, leaving himself open for a few precious seconds which the golem fully intended to take advantage of. He rushed forward, thrusting with all three of his blades, forming a swift triangle of attacks. It seemingly baffled him as all three tips of his blades were suddenly blocked off by something as seemingly pathetic as a sheet of paper. It slowed his thrust by a large enough fraction for Melody to wrap Shi around Ash and pull him to safety. His three blades scraped against each other as they sliced into the air seconds later. The four children all quickly took up an offensive stance, knowing that this fight wouldn't be one they could run away from. The golem was a master of fencing, apparently even with three blades even with just one of his arms he was capable of generating powerful and quick slashes, strong enough to cut through solid rock. Of course, just an incredibly powerful and quick wouldn't cut it. He would actually have to land a blow and against four separate opponents. Everybody was on their guard now, keeping a close eye on their opponent was essential to winning this battle. His chance of a surprise attack now completely ruined. He sighed, but brought his three blades around as well as arming a fourth, aiming them with ill-intent at his opponents. He kept a blade trained on each member…whoever blinked first was losing an eye.

Michael already had an arrow drawn and had his opponent in his sight. He let it fly almost as a challenge to his opponent, who readily accepted. The golem lowered his head, weaving side-to-side and cutting straight in like a razor blade. The golem struck out quickly with one blade, swatting the arrow from the air and continued to move with a series of quick steps. He was underneath Michael in an instant. The sword he used to swat Michael's arrow had been drawn and turned away from the fight, still not being pulled back in to prepare for the next attack, but he had three swords that were. Each were being pulled back, readying themselves for the moment in which they would slice through the sky at their opponent. Michael reacted quickly blocking one blade with his bow and sticking his arm out, relying on his rock hard skin to catch the second. Of course, that only accounted for two more blades, leaving the fourth and final one free to bolt through the air at his opponent's chest, skewering it in a unique fashion. Michel gritted his teeth, but thankfully the uniqueness of his golem body allowed his vital 'organs' to be out of the blade's path.

Michael stepped in, snapping his arm around an tightening his grip around his opponent's arm and holding it still, making it impossible for his opponent to back off and try again. Michael gritted his teeth, premature flashes of what it would be lack had he actually been a human flashing through his mind again. But nonetheless, he held strong, refusing to allow his opponent a chance to escape. And, of course, Michael's friends bolted inwards, not about to allow this chance to pass them by. Melody struck out first, but one of the golem's other blades shot around and blocked off her incoming attack, parrying it to the side with ease. Ash was next, he came in from above, leaping into the air, he put his entire weight behind his downwards thrust to ensure it wouldn't be simply swatted aside. Such a valid attempt was made in vain as the golem, wrenched himself free of Michael's grip, breaking apart and jumping back, avoiding the attack by mere seconds. The golem suddenly reversed his run, going from a backwards dash to a forward one, sending himself careening for Michael and Ash once more. However, he quickly met himself against a wall of paper in no time flat. He stopped his rush, more out of surprise, than worry, he knew to tread lightly against any foe. However, he was soon met with a new problem as Ash pushed himself forward, forcing his way through the paper wall himself and throwing a punch through it and straight for the golem's head.

However, such an attack the golem could parry. He set his arm to a right angle and swept it outwards, knocking Ash's blade aside with ease and then stepping into his chest, brandishing his own blade in less than second. A truly frightening show of power and skill in a matter of seconds. He swept his blade around and aimed for his opponent's gut without wasting or worrying for a second. This was a match of four on one though. Melody rushed in, she had Shi's string wrapped around her arm, coating it in a thin sheet of a protecting soul. She brought her arm down, smashing it into the sword and easily knocking it aside. She stretched her hand out, letting her Soul push through Shi's string and unraveling it from her arm, ready to strike. The hard yo-yo blades shot out, spinning like a saw blade as it approached its target.

The golem scoffed at such a feeble attempt to defeat him, he stepped forward, bringing his blade around once and then twice, successfully tangling Shi's line up and preventing hir from coming any closer. A quick, swift in-step brought the golem closer to Melody though, he raised one of his other three swords, ready to deliver a powerful blow to her chest. An arrow whizzed by his head mere milli-seconds before he cut into Melody, forcing him to step back. That brief interlude was all that Helena needed as she immediately sent another shower of paper shurikens into the air, completely surrounding the golem. The golem smirked, obviously completely un-intimidated by the swirling paper stars in the air. Even when they began to come down like hail, he seemed perfectly fine, brandishing his blades and unleashing a quick torrent of horribly fast and deadly slices into the air. The paper was instantly torn to shreds as the golem allowed himself a brief moment of happiness in his action. "Moving on," he stated, suddenly breaking the intense silence. He pivoted around until he was facing Michael. Michael had moved the furtherest away to a much better space for using his bow, however, as a result he had completely separated himself from the rest of the gang. It made sense as there was no way a normal person could traverse the distance between them that fast especially not when Michael had three friends keeping him busy.

However, this was not a normal person by any means. He hunkered down and the gears in his legs became visible. There was a visible cord in his legs that was wrapped around the gear, as the gear turned, the cord got tighter and tighter gradually building in tension. He separated his four blades as far as they could go, effectively forming the four corners of a square. It reminded them of a venus flytrap its mouth agape and waiting for someone stupid enough to step into its massive jaws. The gang was originally going to approach it with caution, but they soon found out that they didn't have the time to. The tension that had been building up in his legs was suddenly let out with a loud snap. The golem was suddenly rocketed forward as the tension was released from his legs and into the ground. He careen through the air all four of his swords still in their starting position, ready to quickly finish off anyone that was in his way and the only person in his way was Michael.

"I had no intentions of interfering with you people from DWMA and the opposing forces, but...I do suppose some things just aren't meant to last." A large meaty hand came in, grabbing a hold of the golem's head in one swift movement. The man's fist seemed to change color for a brief second, but it was hard to see anything cause as soon as it lit up there was a massive explosion sending a dust cloud around the man and the golem, cloaking them both for few seconds. The man was the only one who walked out of the dust cloud.

He was the giant from Pluto, he wore the same horror movie-styled mask as he did on the plane. As a matter of fact he looked exactly like he did on the plane, despite being in enemy territory for the past couple of hours he had no wounds, no dribbles of sweat going down the side of his face, nothing had change...except the slight sizzle of smoke coming off of his right hand. "Tell the Lord Death he needs to properly train his soldiers."

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><p>New Chapter!<p> 


	90. Chapter 89 Starving

**Starved**

Limos remained stretched out on his chair, bored...honestly he was practically starving for some excitement. The two men who had barged in on his private chambers earlier were lying on the ground, their black suits in shambles, and their guns crushed into a fine powder. Limos, on the other hand, was in near-perfect condition...a slight rumbling in his stomach was present, but still if that was the worst thing that happened to him after dispatching two highly skilled Kishin hunting officers...it could hardly be considered a bad thing. He got up, stretched and thought once more about going off and finding some trouble. However, he supposed he did _kind of _give those young meisters his word he would be waiting here for them when they got around to coming here...and he would do just that. He sat back down and began to tap his hands on his chair waiting for them to arrive, surely the golems hadn't gotten the best of them yet...it would be an awful bore if they did.

"There you are," said a single figure as he came into view from the corridor. He was dressed nicely...or he would've been if his coat wasn't covered in rips and tears, obviously a sign he had had trouble getting here...which meant he wouldn't be of very much interest to Limos either. However, interestingly enough there was only one article of clothing on his entire body that didn't seem damaged at all. The stark white gloves on his hands were free of any tear, blood, or even dirt. "I hope you've lived like a king for these past twenty years cause I'm here to take it all away!" he screamed. Limos didn't even react...like he hadn't heard those lines before...they were such a waste.

"Get out of my sight, I've had my fill of appetizers, I'm waiting for the main course," he muttered, an incredible brevity to his words and a harshness to his tone. The atmosphere in the room had to have all of a sudden felt a thousand times heavier. This was not a man who was playing around. He glared at the intruder as if trying to will him away with an ice cold stare alone, however...he didn't budge. He stood his ground, his feet firmly planted as he stared at his opponent. Limos shuffled upwards and onto his feet, figuring he might as well as put on a show. Limos lifted his hand into the air, hefting it above his head as dark powers swirled into the center. "I'll give you to the count of three. One..." the man seemed unwavering in his faith that he could stand up to him, "two..." the dark sphere seemed to grow and pulse with every breath Limos took. "Three." Limos tossed the hideous ball down the center of the room, letting it grow into a terrifying monstrosity that soared at the intruder, threatening to engulf and devour him at the slightest touch. It hit dead-center it entire body coursing into the intruder with the power of at least one nuclear bomb.

"Four," shouted the man as he bought his pristine white glove out and caught it. The dark pulsating mass stopped dead in its track. "I think you were the one of us who had just said that we were done with appetizers, so...why don't we skip right to desert!" he shouted, rotating his body around and basically hurling the disastrous sphere back at its creator. Limos went wide-eyed...no, one had ever even attempted to do such a thing to him before! This was unprecedented! It was impossible! It was...exciting! Limos shot forward, stretching out with his leg and kicking against the small sphere with all of his might, knocking it away and correcting its path back to its original intended target.

"Interesting," muttered Limos lifting his hand up and conjuring another form of Soul Wavelength. A large gaping jaw appearing on his arm similar to what a stylized crocodile's head would look like. It was bright red with a few black decorative lines within it. He charged flying at the intruder. The intruder flipped his hand up, using his left hand to brace against the top jaw and hold it open while the right did the same with the bottom. "Stopping my attacks, hmm? I don't understand how you are doing it. Your Soul Wavelength is negligible compared to mine or any of my past opponent's." The intruder pressed a little bit harder, managing to snap the crocodile's jaw clean off of Limos' hand causing it to disintegrate.

He slammed his foot forward, not letting this moment get away from him. He brought his two hands up and against Limos' chest. There was a bright white pulse that emanated from the point of impact. The intruder's hands were thrown back by the pulse, but Limos' entire body was sent flying through the air. "I'm fine with that," he said swiftly exchanging his newly dirtied white gloves for a new pair." He cracked his knuckles as he suddenly jetted forward, zooming above Limos and directing his hand down, shooting out another powerful beam from the palm of his hands. Of course, before Limos could recover from this blast the intruder was already moving onto the next one a swift hammering blow with the back of his hand. Blood and teeth gushed out of Limos' mouth causing him to falter for a brief instant, but he soon regained his composure. He was above this man, he was a god after all. He spread his arms wide open and soon the entire room began to be infected by his Madness Wavelength.

The walls became coated in a flesh like tone and started up a steady rhythm almost akin to a heartbeat. "Welcome to the room completely under my control." The intruder jumped to the side as a massive drop of liquid splashed to the ground, leaving behind it the faint sizzle and smoke of acid. His tongue rolled forward and hung lightly out of his mouth. His tongue suddenly shot out of his mouth, embedding it in the wall behind the intruder as he barely managed to side-step the lightning fast strike. "Welcome to my stomach." Limos took a step back and smiled. This was truly the perfect technique. An all encompassing move that swallowed his opponent whole, acid dripping from the ceiling and slowly pooling up from the bottom. Soon his opponent would have nowhere to run. Suddenly four bright pillars of light came exploding past him.

"I'll be destroying this thing when I destroy you," he said as he swiftly exchanged gloves again...as if he was some kind of neat-freak and couldn't stand that his darling white gloves had once again became a dull gray. He smashed his hand together and created a small ball of energy similar to the one Limos had created at the beginning of their fight. He hurled through the air with the same force and velocity as Limos'. Except for Limos wasn't of the same breed as the intruder, indeed. If you were to compare them one was a human and the other was still a god. His mouth flew open, easily surrounding the ball of light and crunching down it, causing it to disappear within seconds. Limos backed up, wiping his mouth clean of any leftover Soul Wavelength residue and smiled.

"I'm waiting for you to destroy me!" laughed Limos, however, he had a slight pause as he watched his opponent once more move through his gloves, applying a new pair that was crisp and clean again. "What is with you and those gloves?" So far throughout their entire fight Limos could point out nothing odd, except the fact that his opponent was putting out like a hundred times more Soul Wavelength then he should. It was insanely powerful compared to what he should be putting out. And, so far, he had done nothing out of the ordinary. No injecting himself with some kind of super drug or using a machine to amplify his Soul Wavelength. The only thing that could even be considered out of the ordinary was his slight obsession with those gloves.

"They're just normal gloves," he stated plainly as he bit down picked up one of this old ones and tossed it over to Limos. Limos didn't move to catch it or even attempt to seize it. It may be a trap and he wasn't someone to openly go after such frivolous object. Surely Marburg would've leapt it for the chance of a new toy to play around with, but Limos wasn't a scientist. "There's nothing all too special about them." Of course, that was true. The gloves he had been so kind to gift Limos with were normal gloves...all of his gloves were except for one small thing. Years of Soul Wavelength being pumped into them. He had turned them into a sort of rechargeable super battery for Soul Wavelength. In other words, indeed he had had many years of work into each pair of glove, constantly charging them up to the point where they would be able to put a hole in Limos' smug face. And he would do that.

"I'm not convinced yet," muttered Limos. The intruder grimaced slightly, if Limos didn't let him change gloves easily he wouldn't be able to fully exert his power. "but I suppose it doesn't matter. Your power is still so close to an insect's its funny."

(-With Michael and the gang-)

"So, what is Pluton's goal, anyways?" asked Shi as ze remained slightly separate from Melody and instead choose to pester the large man in the mask. "Is it just something like world domination or do you guys have something more original in mind?" The large man seemed to be ignoring Shi for the most part, he just kept lumbering forward even up until the point where they hit the wall to Limos' fort. "Dang, looks like we are going to have to walk around and perhaps try to find a door, oh, well. Anyways, as I was asking asides from World Domination do you have any hopes and aspirations...you know like finding the world's greatest slice of chocolate pie?"

"Stand back," he muttered as he lifted one hand up and pressed it against the wall. He pushed a little, but it was obvious that the wall wasn't going to budge. As soon as Shi went to move mer mouth to say so, a bright yellow light flashed from beneath the man's bulky palm. The sound of stone shattering probably could've been heard from all around the base. There was no attempt made to stifle the noise and they highly doubted it would've mattered anyways, they all clung onto their ears desperate to prevent permanent damage as it was. "There's a door for you." He moved forward, trudging even deeper into the room.

As the gang went to follow him, figuring having a man as strong as him on their side was probably a good thing, Michael jerked Ash aside. "Do you have any idea where his power comes from?" he asked. Ash paused looking back at the large giant as Shi continued to talk his ear off, this time going into the possibility of there being a chocolate-flavored frog...and whether or not eating it would be yummy or gross.

Ash shook his head, "while I wish I could say I have a definitive answer to that, I can't piece it together myself. My first guess would've been golem or even Kishin with a messed up power, but then why would he be here."

Michael nodded, not to mention Lord Death had specifically vouched for him, stating that he was not a Kishin. So Michael was just dumbfounded as to what his power could be...and more importantly what would make Lord Death vouch for him. Perhaps he was another Shinigami? Michael just shook his head, that idea seemed even more convoluted then Shi's chocolate frog. There was only one or two Shinigami's in the world and this guy was definitely not one of those two.


	91. Chapter 91 Hungry for More

**Hungry For More**

"Finally, I've been practically starved of excitement while I waited for you guys to show up," shouted Limos as Micheal and the rest of them entered his chambers. He opened his arms, welcoming them in and showing them to a chair. However, despite his seemingly pleasant entrance...they knew that was not his true nature. This was not a friendly 'meet-and-greet'. The dead bodies on the floor told them otherwise. "So are we ready for the main course?" As he said that, they could see his razor sharp teeth hiding behind a false friendly smile.

He was met with a sharp blade, jetting out and being held up against his neck. Ash was not in the mood for his jokes, however, it seemed to Limos that Ash was the one joking around. Such a slow movement...that Limos could block with one hand. He chuckled and waved the gang to the table once more. "I'm sorry, do you guys honestly expect something like that to work against me? That's why I invited you here! To make sure you guys are ready to fight me. I always preferred my own oven." He said as he snapped his fingers and Souls fell from the ceiling, plopping loudly on the plate. "Who's ready for a delicious meal?" They were Kishin souls...and a few Witch souls mixed in. "I heard that guys get incredibly powerful when you guys eat 100 Kishin Eggs and then one Witch soul. So go ahead dig in."

"Why?" asked Michael as he quickly loaded an arrow and pointed it at his head, "you do know that once we eat these things that we'll get more powerful than you...so the only reason why you are making such an offer is because it must be a trap. Well, I hate to break it to you, but we aren't really in the eating mood."

"Or it is simply because I hate eating undercooked meat," Limos laughed as he moved back to his seat, "have you ever heard of the saying 'you are what you eat'? Well, I'm simply living by that rule right here and now. Even cow farmers know that in order to make the best hamburg you must feed your cow the best grass. Well, that's all I'm doing right now, you guys are my livestocks I just want you guys to get plump, turn into Kobe steaks rather then...what you are now." He said that last bit with a particularly disgusted face which caused most of them to give themselves a glance over. "Afterwards, I'll tenderize you!" He disappeared only to reappear next to one of the dead bodies, launching a swift kick into its gut, "season you." A burst of his Madness Wavelength into it caused the body to launch into the air, charred beyond belief. "And then swallow you whole." His tongue snapped out and rolled around the body before sucking it back into his gaping jaw. He took out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth clean of any residue the body had left behind. "Don't get me wrong...this is in no way, shape, or form a trap it is simply my desire to get the very best taste out of you."

"What if I said I still don't believe you?" it was more of a statement than a question, but Michael was fairly certain he had gotten his point across. Limos looked a little bit hurt, but that was probably just feigned. Michael quickly pulled back on the arrow even farther increasing the strength and speed it would have should he decide to let it go. Still if this wasn't a trap should they still partake in it? It made no sense for them not to, he supposed...having it be four death scythes against one god-like witch...wouldn't that be for the best.

"Then you die," Limos stated that plainly despite the heavy consequences of such words. The gang bit their lips and looked up at him. He waved his hand and created four separate large spears that aimed at all of them. "I'm not afraid to kill you unlike my brothers were. Surely if they had gone all out on you four you'd be squished beneath the heel of their boots by now." This really did seem like he was trying to compel them into trusting him. However, it seemed like they wouldn't have to worry about that. The man from Pluto had already made his move. He shuffled behind Limos and had his arm already at the ready, lifting it into the air and then striking it back down on top of him. Limos laughed, blocking the attack with one arm. "Really? Another small fry has come to fight with me. How ridiculous."

"What's ridiculous is how easily you've fallen into my trap," muttered the man from Pluto as he tightened his grip on Limos' arm. Another bright white light emanated from his hand causing Limos' eyes to widened. The explosion could probably be heard from all the way back at the DWMA. The man from Pluto landed awkwardly after surviving the back draft, but Limos was worse off. His entire arm had been blown to bits. "As a man from Pluto my power easily matches up to yours," he muttered taking a quick step forward and toward Limos. Limos looked uneasy, his head flashing between the man and his new stub of an arm.

"Ha ha ha!" Limos laughed as he lifted his stub into the air as a new fresh arm sprouted from it. "You did get me pretty well. Now its only fair if you let me return the favor." A large ghastly jaw appeared around the man from Pluto, but he didn't seem bothered by it as his entire body lit up in the same light as before. He exploded taking the jaw out, but leaving himself physically unscathed. "This is why I prefer weapon and meisters people like you I just don't understand. What's your power? Is it like that weakling from before who was storing Soul Wavelength in his gloves? Cause I've already taken him out."

"No cheap tricks here," muttered the man from Pluto, "as a matter of fact you've already said what I am." He pulled his arm back and let it transform into a glove. "I'm a weapon. A very unique weapon at that. I'm a glove can generate any number of deadly bombs or explosion using my Soul Wavelength. I could've applied to have joined the DWMA and I probably would've soared through the rankings, but...I hate being classified as a Weapon. It sounds so inhuman, besides then my meister would be having all the fun in destroying my opponents and I would only be stuck on their hand...used to do their bidding. And that just sounds bloody awful."

"I agree with you," muttered Limos as he created another ball of pure madness Wavelength. "It does sound horrible...but trust me perhaps if you were with someone I wouldn't be about to kill you, I would be about to kill your partner." He hurled the ball at him, but the man didn't even budge. He created a back draft, an explosion that created a strong enough wind and force to blast the away from him. Limos smiled. "I guess there may be a slight chance you may actually be able to hit me again. However, that's only since I'm holding back...I didn't want to disturb my guest before desert." The gang just kind of rolled their eyes. They appreciated his effort, but it didn't really help. They were still in the enemy's home...and he was still a god-like monster hell-bent on destroying them and eating their soul. "I guess however, I'll have to move on to the preparation for the meal. Lucky them, getting dinner and a show!" There was a strong pulse that circled around him, taking to the air and continuously pulsing outwards and preparing to devour anyone that came at him.

Of course, even worse then that was their minds. There was steady seed in their minds that was planted and beginning to grow. It created an insane emptiness in the pit of their stomachs...they wanted something. A steady craving building up in their bodies...they needed something more. They wanted it. They shook their heads. They would just have to ignore it for the time being. However, Limos was just smiling.

"I can create a form of desire in people's bodies," stated Limos, "I can starve them of anything. This overwhelming sense of desire drives people to do insane things. Vigrid can kill hundreds of men, Lord Death is a man with tons of untapped potential, and Marburg is a man who can release a plague to kill everybody off without even the slightest effort. Me? I can make people do inhuman things. This desire I stir in people can turn them into monsters, into Kishins. If people desire something they will do anything to get it."

"Yeah, cause you are controlling them," shouted Helena, quite possibly the most active she's been throughout this entire mission. Limos smiled, kicking his head back and shaking his head.

"I only cause the desire not what they do because of it. They act like monsters not because of their desires, but because of what they are. They are kishins at heart and they will always act like Kishins the instant they feel that they need to. As soon as this disguise of a perfectly normal human becomes too cumbersome they shed it and reveal their true colors, that of your so-called disgusting 'evil' Kishins," he laughed, "humans are Kishins, sweethearts! Kishins are humans! We are the same, just some are more honest than others."

"Stop arguing with him," stated the man from Pluto as he brushed the kids aside. "Just kill him!" He burst forward like a rocket, aiming his massive meaty fist at Limos. There was a loud explosion as his fist cut through the air and wound up missing Limos by a few bare inches. Limos struck forward, letting his Madness Wavelength flow freely from his body as he slammed his fist into his gut. This was met with a powerful slap, but Limos blocked it with ease. There was a flash of realization across his face as he remembered what had happened last time he had blocked an attack. Limos threw the hand away just as he detonated it. "Almost got your arm again."

"I know I don't think I would've ever lived it down had you actually gotten me twice," he pointed out. Limos leaned back as an arrow whizzed by his head. He turned about to converse with Michael when Ash and Xander came down from above with a slice from their gauntlet. Limos chuckled, backing away and moving swiftly. He found it funny, that these people actually thought that they could beat him. Did they already forget about his power? "Just days ago this island was teeming with life and now...here you are trying to defeat me?" he mocked. "You stand no chance!" Next up was Shi's attack. The little insane yo-yo whizzed by, it was by far the most far off attack so far missing Limos by more than a foot.

However, that was only step one it flew past him bounced off of a sheet of paper from Helena's weapon and was sent careening back forward to form a proper attack at him. Limos stepped back, unwittingly stepping right into the string of Shi's yo-yo. As Melody kicked on her Soul Resonance the string burst into flames, lightly scorching Limos back...admittedly it would've done better if he hadn't already been moving away from it. However, the evidence was still there. They had landed an attack on him.

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><p>Running out of backlog for this story...<p> 


	92. Chapter 92 The Final Course

**The Final Course**

"Crap," Michael stated as the group withdrew into the hallway, "even all at once the most we could amount to is something similar to a tiny scratch. We need something stronger." Michael looked down at his hands. He remembered the feeling of an incredible power surging through them when he fought Marburg back in his hometown...but he didn't know how to bring such a power back. It really was a spur of the moment thing. "The guy from Pluto is really our best bet. If we can give him a free pass, we may be able to deal enough damage to permanently damage Limos." The rest of the group agreed.

"However, the problem would be doing so," Ash stated, "Limos barely worries about our attacks and I have a feeling after our last assault wound up doing so little, he probably thinks even less of us. It may have gotten to the point where he won't even try to block our attacks and will just live with the repercussions. Maybe we should've taken him up on his offer to take those souls. As Death Scythes we probably would all stand a chance against him, being able to damage him and all that." The group fell quiet as they contemplated the possibilities, but in the end they all shook their heads. They had made their mind up to go for it and here was where they'd make their stand. They took a few steps back and emptied themselves out in the much larger room.

The room they were in before was quite small and not to mention with the other men lying around it was kind of cramped with numerous tripping hazards. Out here they at least didn't have to watch where they were stepping. Michael quickly nocked another arrow taking aim down the large hall. The man from Pluto came down the hallway, waving to them briefly before turning around. "Soul Resonance," stated Michael and May in unity. There was a brief flash as each other's souls mingled with one another.

Michael pulled the Soul Wavelength back making the tip of the arrow as sharp as possible. The less wind resistance the faster it would fly. He was about to let loose a lightning bolt. The man from Pluto turned around swiftly, scrapping his right hand against the wall and blowing a hole into it. He turned around, disappearing into this hole leaving Limos in plain sight of Michael's arrow. There was a quizzical look on Limos face as he tried to figure out why his prey had suddenly disappeared, but it was obvious that it meant nothing to Michael. He tapped lightly on the end of the arrow as he let it fly. The arrow spun forward. The very end of the arrow bursting with Michael's Soul Wavelength. Michael had minimum amount of control over the flying arrow he was using Soul Wavelength like a small string, he could send vibrations down the main body and control its flight pattern. Quickly shifting it around he had it lock onto its target. Limos' chest, right through his heart.

Limos laughed, waving his hand through the air creating a wall of Madness Wavelength that blocked off Michael's arrow. "Nice try, boy," he muttered as he brought the wall back away, sending it disappearing into the nether realm once more. He stepped forward, a long smile appearing on his lips, however, he had to pause as he noticed a similar smile spreading on Michael's face. Of course, as Michael had said they had no chance their attacks wouldn't damage him enough quickly so he had to rely on the man from Pluto. Which was why he used his arrow as a distraction.

The walls around Limos suddenly gave way as an incredible force blew through them. Out popped the man from Pluto, his arms swinging widely coming from both sides and attempting to wrap themselves around Limos' frail body. Limos' eyes widened as he looked at him. The slightest semblance to worry crossing his face. A grenade weapon, perfectly capable of handling his own and destroying his opponents with an overwhelming might. Such an opponent would normally excite Limos' body. Temporarily filling his stomach, however, against them and the boys that had mocked and injured his brothers he found him rather troublesome more like an insect that needed to be swatted. He lifted his hand up to swat his opponent, however, immediately took note of the papers hovering around his head. It took him, but a mere moment to see that the trap had deepened.

Helena and Eva had laid papers out while they ran to create the best area to trap him in, Michael's job was to trap him in that area and then the man from Pluto would strike. Of course, with the papers hovering around any counter-attack would leave him open as well. Oh, well. Limos lifted his hand up and let the energy charge up in it. He smiled deviously as he moved his other hand and pointed it down the hall at the students, leaving his original hand trained on the man from Pluto. Limos fired. Two bullets of equal speed and power. The man from Pluto gritted his teeth, tanking the heavy blow. However, the blast aimed at the students was much more dangerous. They dove to the sides, each one taking a different direction. They could feel the scolding hot blast blow through the air, mere inches away from their faces. They rolled a few feet before gathering their nerves. They didn't know how much time they had until he got here. Michael brandished his bow, aiming down the tunnel and at him. Limos charged. His incredible power, sending him forward like a missile at his opponents. Limos lifted his hands into the air and sent a powerful wave at his opponent. A wall of Soul Wavelength enforced papers came slicing in creating a minor disruption, long enough for Ash to jump in and deflect it with his metal blade."

"Any new ideas?" asked Ash as he forced Limos back for a brief instant with a charge. Michael looked questioningly between his friend and their opponent as he tried to think of an idea

He nodded, "cover me for awhile." Ash quickly looked at Limos and nodded.

However, an exasperated Xander quickly felt the need to add, "oh, yeah, sure give us the hard part." Melody swiftly jumped in, firing a kick at Limos and forcing him back again before looking at them and nodding forward. Xander sighed, "yeah, yeah, I get it...get going." His reflection in the mirror turned and looked at Michael. "Don't do nothing stupid now, you understand?" Michael nodded as he took his distance. They needed something else relying strictly on Pluto definitely wouldn't help them win. They needed another trump card. And for some reason that seemed like it would come down to him. He took up the bow and aimed down the line. He took a deep breath and drew the bow back. He tried to recall the feeling back when he felt the power coursing through his body, but he could only draw a blank. He remembered the after-effects the burning hot sensations of the strength still pouring out into his body...but that was it. He clenched his hands and took deep breaths trying to recapture the feeling. A slight twinge of anger trying to well itself up, but whenever he did he found something push it back down as if sealing that section of his heart. "May, do you remember that moment when I summoned the arrow? The arrow that injured Marburg." He looked down at his bow. He saw May's reflection in it, however, something was different.

She was clutching at her chest, a strong ache welling up in it. "Michael...it hurts," she stated feeling a subtle pain rising up. She had felt it before. Right before passing out. Like a demon's massive jaws had found a place to rest on her chest and it was slowly tightening as if trying to drag her heart out and devour it. "Something's wrong. Something is very...wrong." she panted, pausing slightly as the pain made it impossible to continue.

"Is it something Limos is doing?" asked Michael as he turned to watch the rest of his friends fighting on. None of the others seem to be worrying about their weapons, so he assumed they must've been fine. Ash blocked another powerful kick from Limos and grimaced...he probably bruised his arm even through Xander's sturdy metal. Eva and Helena were also doing a good job fighting them off. The paper swirling around his head easily managed to seal him off again, giving Ash and Xander enough time to recover a little longer. Melody struck out again, her flaming wire slicing at him. Melody jumped up, quickly following in behind her wire and closing in on Limos. However another bright burst of Madness Wavelength forced Melody back again. This was the strength of a super-human Kishin. He wasn't like Marburg was. Drained from years of inactivity nor did he behave like Vigrid and take the fight to the one being who could give him a fair fight. This man was acting out of petty vengeance for his brother, stooping to low levels and fighting back. An evil breeding within him and he'd eventually let it out and on them, but first he'd toy with them.

While Limos seemed to be having a blessed time Michael was still angrily pulling on the strings of his bow, trying to recreate the arrow, his temporary concern for May been pushed aside as he tried to finish off Limos.

Cham huddled near the door, giving the gang a cold stare as he waited patiently. His true hidden talent still resting. A source of hidden power welling up inside Michael. When he had first met Michael it was on the very beginning of his adventure, Michael had been unfortunately sliced in two. Of course, Cham still had his own hunger for power. It had been a long and weary quest one longer and wearier then he had wanted. However, now he was certain he had a slight grasp on a Kishin creating technique. And he was watching the possibility unfold. The golem body was an incubator for it. Letting it rest without breaking it. Of course, other elements had to come into play. Namely a reliable food source for his soon-to-be new baby Kishin. Luckily for him his experiment was always attached to a suitable source of food. His weapon made the perfect snack for him Kishin to snack on when it desired it.

Of course, Michael stressing his Soul Wavelength would agitate it and cause it to rear its ugly head, admittedly Cham had never expected Michael and it to develop a sort of symbiotic relationship. Michael was giving it some food (in the form of May) and it would provide him with a burst of power. It was an interesting theorem and would definitely be a future experiment of his. Until then he would just have to wait it out. If he could. From the looks of it, Michael was subconsciously repressing the Madness Wavelengths that were within him. Still if it continued like this his conscious desire for power would overwhelm the subconscious desire to hold back the Kishin. Not only that, but...it was possible that this increased agitation would cause the Kishin to develop rapidly. If so...Cham sat down and stayed invisible to those around him, secretly rubbing his hands together greedily, pleased with these turns of events. He was getting a close-up view of his experiment in action against a powerful opponent. If things continued to go this way eventually he'd be able to ascertain all of the weaknesses with his plans. He'd further develop the design until it was perfect, an army of Kishins at his fingertips...that was his ultimate goal.

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><p>Voila! Another chapter!<p> 


	93. Chapter 93 The End

**The Final Course**

Cham remained invisible to all of those around him. He was having a nice time remaining in his own little cozy nit away from the action. He was watching happily from his small place in an offset room, barely through the window, but he managed to keep a close eye on Limos and the students. Some people would consider this plan cowardly, but he considered it intelligent.

From here he got the perfect view of his little experiment taking flight. While he was surprised by many of its changes, he also supposed all of them were to expected and it was his own fault for not better accounting for them. He shook his head, he had shamed his own research, by not putting it together sooner. It was his fault completely.

But still he supposed that was what test subjects were for. Field trials and testing to make sure you didn't muck up the real ones. That was all this was to him was just some sort of field run. Not only that, but he had a great test subject. Depending on how far they pushed Limos he would know how strong his fake Kishins were. And if they killed Limos all the better. Now he had guaranteed proof his Kishins were the strongest beings in existence and there would be one less competitor out there for world domination. He supposed if Limos survived he may allow him to form an alliance with him and his superior man-made Kishins. An army of allies. However, he supposed until then he would just settle down for the time being.

"I suppose I should thank you for keeping such a close eye on my students," offered a voice from behind Cham, causing him to turn around his face going bleak as he laid eyes on his intruder. "The name's Saul and this..." Saul stated pulling his hand away and revealing his boomerang. "Is the last thing you'll ever see." Saul's entire arm snapped forward and immediately snapped Cham's neck off.

"I suppose I should do something," Saul stated, turning back to face the mess before him. His students fighting off a monster. Rochelle's reflection appeared on his boomerang and it turned up to look him in the eye.

"Then why aren't you?" she chimed in, slightly annoyed Saul was spending time up here rather than down there making business. "They might die."

"Or they might surprise you," Saul stated a cocky smile, present on his face. "They may surprise Limos, especially if Michael does reel in that arrow."

"And if he doesn't they all die or possibly even worse, he may be the one to kill them all!" Rochelle argued. "That arrow is unstudied. It could kill everyone around him. It is uncontrollable at Michael's current state. Are you really planning on risking all of their lives on something simple like that? I know you are a gambler, Saul, but the risk isn't worth it."

"That's where me and you disagree," Saul stated as he sat down, crossing his legs and refusing to budge. "The development and growth of our student is worth the risk." Rochelle gave him a cautious look before flipping her gaze right back at her students.

"Fine! But if something goes wrong its on your head!"

"Its always on my head."

(-With Michael-)

The arrow was steadied and the bowstring was drawn. Once more Michael felt the kind of calming serenity cover him. It was unusual to say the least, but he was happy with it. He had made his peace with this sort of feeling in the cave.

"_He he he!" _the mocking laughter once more entered his brain, but he brushed it aside. It wasn't the first time he had heard it so he wouldn't let it get to him. His own encroaching madness would be pushed back and hidden for the time being. He would pump that kind of power that it provided him into his arrow and let it do the speaking for him. Limos seemed to notice this change, he eyed up the young boy once more.

"I remember that arrow," Limos spoke. The design was a bit off, perhaps Michael's own personal touch to it, but he remembered seeing Marburg's projects as they developed and he supposed this was one of them. A different design and different user, but same basic principles. An overwhelming power as a pure soul turned mad. A burst of power that such a change would create. The first delicate taste of the change that had entrapped the heart of many. Limos supposed the young student wouldn't be any different.

However, Michael was determined to prove him wrong. The arrow slipped out of his finger and as if homing in on the biggest ego in the room, it found its way right to Limos. The arrow zipped by Limos, ripping into his flesh considerably. The monster wailed a bit as he felt his own body sustain damage. Of course, Michael wasn't in the business of giving mercy and even if he was no way in hell was Limos going to be his first customer.

Limos' head was placed squarely in his sights as the arrow blasted off. Limos leaned to the side, dodging the arrow by the nearest millimeter, but to his surprise as well possibly Michael's the arrow curved, hunting him down. Limos reached out, grabbing a hold of the arrow with his own two hands to finally stop it.

However, the arrow had no sense of discrimination when it came to food and Limos felt it. The arrow began to sap away at his strength. Limos couldn't believe that he had not become the feaster, but the feasted upon. The arrow was eating away at his soul. This was clear blurring of the lines for someone as menacing as Limos. He stumbled backwards, his head spinning.

The last two arrows had done their job though. Limos was significantly distracted. He had stumbled back and right into the man from Pluto. The big burly giant wrapped his arms around the Kishin. Limos tried to kick free, but the countdown to the end had already initiated. Limos laughed even as he felt the heat from Pluto's body increase exponentially.

"I wouldn't dare think that you've won yet! We still have the upper hand!"

"That's awful big talk for someone who is about to be blown to Kingdom Come," Xander mocked the gripped Kishin. However, Limos seemed less than bothered by his insults.

"I could say the same to you," Limos chuckled. "The strange fact that you think you've won when you are miles away from the real action. You guys took the bait, hook, line and sucker."

"What bait?" asked Michael, jabbing a new arrow at Limos' head.

Limos chuckled. "You're just like Marburg. You can't stand to think that you've been outsmarted, so even when the truth is obvious you deny it. Guess what, He-ro," Limos said, accenting the last word with a particularly venomous bite, "you lost. We won! Marburg is back at the DWMA right this second freeing Vigrid from the infernal Prison Jar! With the two of them working together Lord Death will be no match! The hero of his time will finally fall!"

"I don't believe you!" shouted Melody as she slammed her yo-yo into Limos' back. "Let's not forget that..."

Everybody paused as they heard a quiet rumbling nearby. An incredible pulse of Madness Wavelength rippled across the ground. They turned around to see the ruined the walls around them, they saw a beacon of red light shooting up from the ground near the DWMA. The DWMA was beginning to crumble.

"It can't be happening!" shouted Michael as he looked back, feeling his own body shake, resonating with the horrible red light that pulsed and radiated, growing with every second. "Lord Death is in serious trouble. I don't think we'll be able to get back in time!" Michael shouted.

"Do you really think so?" asked Saul as he came out and sat down on the ground near by them. "I think its absolutely stupid to think that Lord Death would just take the beating lying down. Especially if you notice a Death Scythe is missing from our little get together here. A Death Scythe which absolutely loves beating down Kishins and the such."

"ENMA!"

(-With Lord Death-)

Marburg was sent flying back into the wall. It wasn't a scythe, but it seemed to Marburg that it didn't matter to Lord Death. The weapon's top heavy nature simply added to its strength. The powerful hammer which only grew more and more powerful the more atrocities the enemy has committed. And the numbers Marburg had committed were innumerable and here he was facing off against quite possibly the worst weapon for him.

The weapon could probably grow to an infinite size if Lord Death wanted it to, but instead he just simply channeled the power of the hammer back into his body and more importantly into his Soul Wavelength. Lord Death's explosive Soul Wavelength had taken on a new level of power. Before they may have been on the same level, but now they were on completely different levels and it easily weighed in on Lord Death's side.

"Give up," Lord Death offered, "I don't want to hurt you."

"Hurt me?" chuckled Marburg, "did you forget? You already hurt me when you betrayed me and let the demon imprison me for the rest of my life! Or did you forget your own brother?"

Lord Death sighed and twirled the mighty hammer around in his arm. "I really must apologize for what I am about to do then." Lord Death hefted the large hammer back around and paused it in midair, perhaps one tiniest flicker of hesitation for the destruction of someone he had once held dear. However, soon that passsed. The hammer swung through the air, blowing away anything even close to the love the two might've once held in-between them.

(-Weeks later-)

All of the group had reconvened back at the DWMA. It was kind of shocking to be a student again after what they had faced. Three demons all hell-bent on world domination and many other exciting challenges along the way. It was nothing less than a whirlwind ride of adventure. They had to admit it was something spectacular.

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><p><strong>The End<strong>

Well, everybody it was fun while it lasted. I found this story to be a hundreds time more challenging than any of my other stories. It doesn't naturally lend itself to a completely natural expansion especially OC-wise as they were probably the hardest part of this.


End file.
